Rainbow's End
by Parsec
Summary: A depressed friend moves into Foster's, and the others try to find out what's wrong and cheer him up...
1. Chapter 1

**_RAINBOW'S END _**

_By: Mark J. Hadley _

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* * *

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**CHAPTER 1 **

The foyer of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was typically quiet during the late morning after breakfast due to the lack of traffic. Currently, nobody was present, and the only sound was the rhythmic ticking of the foyer's clock. It usually stayed this way until around lunch, save for the occasional passerby. The only exception seemed to be whenever one of the house residents, Blooregard Q. Kazoo, was up to his usual antics.

This morning was one such day. A large red ball bounced down the steps leading down to the foyer, with Bloo in close pursuit, swinging wildly at it with a tennis racquet. "I've got it, I've got it!" he exclaimed, missing the ball entirely with each swing even though it was almost as big as he was. It bounced against one of the steps and over the railing; Bloo, determined not to lose it, hopped onto the railing and slid the rest of the way down, still swinging the racquet around. The ball took a big bounce when it hit the ground and soared across the foyer towards a door on the right-hand side.

The office that door led to belonged to Mr. Herriman, the imaginary friend responsible for running Foster's. The rabbit in question opened the door and emerged from his office, unaware at first that the ball Bloo was chasing was on a collision course with him. As soon as he saw it, he threw himself to one side against the door frame, fur standing on end. The ball whooshed past him and into the office, bouncing twice before striking his desk on the far end. The collision knocked over a lamp and scattered some papers around. Furious, Mr. Herriman turned and shouted, "Master Blooregard!"

"What?" Bloo retorted. "Don't look at me, _I_ wasn't the one who opened the door. It would've just bounced off and come to a stop if it weren't for _you!_"

"Be that as it may, you know the rules for playing in the foyer," Mr. Herriman told him. "Specifically: 'Do not play in the foyer.' Yet you proceed to violate this rule at _least_ once daily."

Bloo leaned against his racquet smugly and said, "And if you didn't have that rule in the first place, then I wouldn't have broken any rules. So really, it's _your_ fault that a rule was broken at _all._"

Giving a frustrated sigh, Mr. Herriman said, "Believe it or not, I don't have time for your shenanigans today, Master Blooregard, for I have an urgent matter to attend to, once the..." He was interrupted by the sound of the front doorbell ringing. "Ah, they're here," he said, and began hopping across the foyer towards the front door.

Bloo waited until Mr. Herriman's back was turned and edged toward his office and, as soon as he was sure the rabbit wasn't looking, darted inside to retrieve his ball. He came out almost as quickly as he had entered, rolling the ball in front of him as he headed for one of the side halls. He hesitated before leaving when he heard Mr. Herriman say, "Hello. You must be officer Edwards..."

_Officer?_ Bloo thought. _Did Herriman call the police? Wh-what did I do? He didn't find out about the toothpaste already, did he? Or the septic tank? Maybe it was the library..._ He stayed out of sight but watched the door cautiously.

There was indeed a pair of police officers at the door... and someone else. One of the officers was holding a tiny imaginary friend, no more than six inches tall. He had a small, round head with a single hair sticking out and hanging down behind him. He was a deep blue color, a few shades darker than Bloo was, and a pair of large, gray eyes that were staring down sadly at the ground. He looked so small and fragile the way he was being held.

After introducing himself, Mr. Herriman said, "Thank you for calling ahead of time so that I could make all the necessary preparations. And this must be our fine friend here." He leaned in and addressed him, "Welcome to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. What is your name?"

The tiny friend barely lifted his eyes, and said quietly, "R... Rainbow..." His voice was fairly high pitched, yet soft.

"Well, Master Rainbow," Mr. Herriman declared, "Foster's welcomes you. Ms. Francis has prepared your room; please let her know if there is anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable." He turned and shouted towards the staircase, "_Ms. Francis!_"

"Coming!" came the reply. Frankie appeared at the top of the steps, wearing her usual t-shirt, green jacket, short skirt and sneakers. She descended the steps and said, "The room's all set, Mr. H."

"Splendid," Mr. Herriman said, and turned back to the officers. "Now then, if you two would please follow me, we can get all the necessary paperwork completed."

"You got it," one of the officers said, while the other handed Rainbow over to Frankie. Bloo watched as Herriman and the cops disappeared into the office while Frankie carried the tiny friend up the stairs. Rainbow glanced over at Bloo for a moment, his eyes filled with a deep sadness. Bloo stared back until they disappeared from sight.

_Poor guy,_ Bloo thought... _Probably abandoned. Well, once he gets to know everyone, he'll cheer up. He'd _better_, anyway... The last thing I want is for us blue friends to get a reputation for being... well, blue._ He suddenly remembered what he was doing before, and gave the ball next to him a smack with his tennis racquet, sending it bounding into the next room. He chased after it, waving the racquet around and shouting in crazed glee.

* * *

"Yes!" Wilt shouted, rising up from the couch and holding his game controller up victoriously. "_Three_ points!" 

Eduardo stared at the screen in disbelief, "_Ay carumba_, he good at TV basketball too!" He gripped his own controller tighter and tried to concentrate, but he was already sixty points behind. Bloo and Coco were both watching from opposite sides of the couch, and both shook their head sadly at Eduardo's performance on the basketball videogame.

Coco pointed at the TV and asked, " Coco cococo coco?"

"No, I _not_ going to give up! I can still wi--" Eduardo started, but then the end of game buzzer sounded. He dropped his controller and frowned, "Okay. I give up."

"Sorry, Eduardo," Wilt apologized. "I'll let someone else play next..." As he said this, he noticed someone out of the corner of his eye; Rainbow came into the game room, his dark blue body looking even darker in the dim light, and still looking pretty sad. "Maybe the new guy?" Wilt suggested.

"_Si_, he look like he could use some cheering up," Eduardo agreed.

"Hey, Rainbow, over here!" Bloo called out. Rainbow looked up, then started walking over, though his gloom seemed to follow him. He trudged in front of the couch and slumped down in front of the controller Eduardo had been using, which looked huge compared to the tiny friend.

Rainbow looked up at Wilt and said softly, "P... play...?"

"Sure thing, pal," Wilt said happily. He extended a hand and said, "I'm Wilt, and that's Eduardo, Coco, and Bloo. Nice to meet you!"

Due to his size, Rainbow obviously couldn't shake Wilt's hand, so he grasped a finger and shook it meekly, "I-it's... it's nice... to... m-meet you... too."

Wilt reached over and reset the game console, saying, "All right, let's get this show started, if that's okay!" Rainbow nodded, and the game started on the screen. As Wilt started playing, he thought, _I have to be careful... The little guy's pretty upset, and I don't want to see him get more depressed because of me. Maybe I should just let him win, and..._

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Rainbow's team slipped past Wilt's defenses and scored. Wilt looked shocked, and for the first time since Bloo saw him arrive, Rainbow seemed to smile. Bloo also wasn't sure, but he could swear Rainbow's blue color became more of a greenish-blue instead of the dark blue it was before. He said, "Hey... I... I _did_ it...!"

Wilt congratulated him, "Good job!" They resumed playing, and Rainbow seemed to get more into the game; even though he was small, he still managed to hit the controller buttons firmly with his hands, and was doing so with much more fervor now.

It wasn't long before Rainbow scored again; Wilt bit his lip, but then said, "Uh, heh heh... nice, nice shot..." Rainbow beamed happily, and there was no mistaking it this time: his color had shifted to a solid green. _So he can change colors, huh?_ Bloo thought. It wasn't all that unusual, but still interesting...

Another two points went to Rainbow, and Wilt hunched forward, working the controls furiously, "Oh that's _it_, it's on now!" His team quickly crossed the basketball court and blew through Rainbow's team, making a 3-point shot. Rainbow was shocked, and then gritted his teeth, his color shifting to a rather orange hue.

The game went on from there; the two were neck-and-neck the whole way, conversation at a minimum. Both of them were intensely focused the game, and even the onlookers remained silent only cheering when points were scored. As the game neared its end, they were tied, and the intensity was unbearable. Eduardo was biting his fingernails nervously, just as Coco was with her toenails.

In the last moments of the game, Rainbow's team took a shot, but Wilt's team blocked it, and he quickly threw a full-court shot just before time ran out. Everyone held their breath as the shot flew towards the net... and through it successfully.

The spectators let out a cheer, and Wilt nearly jumped out of his seat with excitement, though he didn't since he would have hit his head on the ceiling. "Yeah, _that's_ what I'm talking about!" Wilt exclaimed, and was about to do a celebratory dance, until he noticed Rainbow. He had slumped down into a sitting position and stared at the ground sadly; his body had changed back to a blue shade again. The others noticed this as well, and they stopped their cheering, looking at the tiny friend with concern.

"Hey there, little guy," Wilt said, crouching down and laying a comforting hand on Rainbow's back. "Don't be sad, you did great! I haven't played a game that fun in a while... you're easily one of the best players in the house." Rainbow brightened up a little, his color going back to green some more. Wilt smiled back and added, "I'm sure you'll beat me next time."

"How'd you get so good?" Bloo asked. "I know! It was your kid, wasn't it? You two probably played this game all the time and..." He trailed off, because Rainbow's eyes suddenly filled with tears, his color becoming a vibrant blue, and without saying another word he got up and bolted from the room.

Everyone stared at the door he ran out of, and then looked at Bloo, who said, "What? What'd I say?"

* * *

"So he just ran out of the room crying?" Mac asked. Once he had arrived at Foster's and had come up to Bloo's room, Bloo had filled him in on the new arrival. Mac was concerned about Rainbow's reaction and said, "Bloo, you gotta be more careful what you say." 

"Pshhh," Bloo said, brushing it off. "He probably got dumped by his kid and he's sad about it. I see it all the time. He should just get over it; I mean, kids aren't all that great anyway." Mac glared at him, and Bloo added, "Present company excluded."

"Still," Mac said, "Don't you think it's a little weird that the cops brought him?"

Bloo shrugged, "No, why would I? They probably found him on the street."

"If that were true, then he'd be happier to have a new home," Mac said. "Something about this doesn't make sense, and I'm going to find out. I'll bet Mr. Herriman or Frankie knows..." He headed for the door.

"Suit yourself," Bloo said, following him out. "But I'm telling you, it's probably nothing."

Mac started to say, "But it might be someth--" and was cut off in surprise; when he emerged from the room, he nearly stepped on Rainbow coming from the other direction. The tiny friend jumped back in fright, and his previous blue color was only visible for a moment before it changed to a sharp yellow. Mac was startled as well, but once he realized what happened, he said, "Sorry! I-I didn't mean to scare you..."

Rainbow was still yellow, but after a few moments he seemed to calm down, his color turning back to blue. "S... sorry..." he said, still speaking softly.

Mac crouched down and said, "I'm Mac. You must be Rainbow... how are you?"

"I... I... o-okay, I guess..." Rainbow said. He looked a little more relieved, and at the same time, his color began to shift to green. "You're... a friend of Bloo...?"

"I'm his creator," Mac said, carefully trying to avoid saying anything that might upset him. "All the friends here are great. You'll fit right in after a while. I heard you almost beat Wilt at basketball?"

"Welllll..." Rainbow said, shuffling his feet, "just a videogame..." His color had now turned almost completely green, and he was looking a lot more at ease. _I get it, _Mac thought. _His color matches his mood... so blue is sad, yellow must be scared... and green is happy! His name sure is fitting..._ As Mac was pondering this, Rainbow asked, "Do _you_ play videogames?"

Nodding, Mac said, "Well, I'm not that great..."

"You can say that again," Bloo remarked. "In fact, _I'll_ say that again. Mac's not that great at videogames..."

Narrowing his eyes, Mac said, "_Thanks_. Anyway, _you're_ one to talk. You're worse than_ I_ am."

"Hey!" Bloo retorted. "Who got the highest score on Super Ninja Robo-Aliens 12? _Who_, I ask you?"

" Coco," Mac reminded him.

Bloo frowned, "I meant between _us_."

Rolling his eyes and sighing, "You. All right? You got the higher score. Are you happy now? Do you gotta be a jerk about it?"

"You know it!" Blo said, doing a little victory dance and singing, "Who got the higher score? _Bloo_ got the higher score? Who got the higher score? _Bloo_ got the..."

"Bloo!" Mac yelled. "Stop it!"

He was about to say something else, but it was Rainbow who spoke up first, "_HEY!_" Mac and Bloo both looked over at him... Rainbow had changed to a fiery orange color and was clenching his tiny fists. He exclaimed, "How can you two act like that? Mac, you created Bloo! It's like he's part of you, he should be your closest friend! And Bloo, Mac is your creator! You're lucky to have him, you should be appreciative that he spends time with you!"

Mac and Bloo both dropped their eyes guiltily as Rainbow continued, furious, "You _both_ should cherish your friendship, not fight with each other! Imaginary friends should be there for their creators, no matter _what!_ Kids should always be there for their friend, too! They should _never_ go away! They stick with each other through thick and thin! You don't know... you don't know how good you have it... how... how lucky you are..." As he trailed off at the end, tears were welling up in his eyes and his color became blue again... it was hard to tell, but there seemed to be a shade of purple mixed in. Without another word, he turned and ran away down the hall and out of sight.

The two stared at each other silently... Mac felt guilty, and of course, Rainbow was absolutely right about them. Still, Mac wondered what had happened with Rainbow, why he seemed so sad, and why he felt so strongly about the bond between imaginary friend and creator...

* * *

"Master Rainbow, you say?" Mr. Herriman said. 

"Yeah," Mac nodded. He and Bloo had stopped by in his office to find out any details he knew. "He's been really depressed, and we've been trying to cheer him up, but it hasn't been working very well. He seems like he wants to fit in, but any talk of creators gets him depressed again. So I was wondering... what happened to him?"

"I'm telling you, he was probably abandoned," Bloo said, folding his arms. "He'll totally get over it."

"I don't think that's true," Mac said, shaking his head. "It seems right, but why the cops? Why isn't he happy to have a new home?"

"Well..." Mr. Herriman replied, scratching the back of his head. "It's... a long story. And well, not one I feel I should be the one to say. Suffice to say, it is an... unusual situation, to say the least."

"But...!" Mac started.

"Ah-ah-ah," Mr. Herriman interrupted. "Please, I'd rather not. I'm afraid I'm... quite uncomfortable talking about it myself." He swiveled around in his chair so that his back was facing them. "Perhaps Ms. Frances will tell you, but _I_ will not."

Bloo huffed and said, "_Fine_, Herriman. We'll do it _your_ way. C'mon, Mac." He stormed out of the office, with Mac following close behind.

"Bloo, I think this is serious," Mac said. "Something's really wrong..." The two of them started upstairs to head for Frankie's room as Mac continued, "Maybe we're better off not knowing."

"Well, what fun is that?" Bloo replied. "Why would anyone even _have_ a secret except to tell someone?"

Sighing, Mac reached Frankie's door and knocked on it. "Come in!" came a shout from inside, so the two of them entered. Frankie was seated at her computer; she turned around in her chair and said, "Hey, guys. What's up?"

"We came to talk to you about Rainbow," Mac said. "Mr. Herriman said you could tell us about him. Like why he's so depressed."

"Well..." Frankie said cringing a little and looking mildly uncomfortable. "I suppose I could tell you, but... it's pretty disturbing."

"Please," Mac told her. "I want to know."

Taking a deep breath, Frankie said, "All right... this is how I understand it..."

* * *

Officer Edwards moved up silently toward the front door of the suburban home, gun drawn. The door was ajar, and it was dark inside, no lights showing through the windows. Officer McMullen was beside him, while their backup was out in a circle of police cars that lined the street, watching the house for any sudden movement. "All right," Edwards whispered into his radio, "We're going in..." 

They entered the house pointing their guns into the darkness and shining their flashlights. It was a mess inside... a struggle had definitely taken place. There were chairs knocked over, papers scattered around, and lamps knocked over and broken. They made sure to shine the light into every corner of the room. If the call they received was correct...

"Here!" McMullen said. Edwards moved over to view whatever he had seen, and spotted him on the ground... it was Fredericks, all right. Mr. Fredericks was a serial killer the police had been tracking for some time, wanted for the murder of almost a dozen people over the last two years. They had finally caught him, but...

McMullen examined the body; he appeared to have died due to a gunshot wound to the head. A gun was still clenched tightly in his hand, missing one bullet. Edwards remembered Mr. Fredericks' history; according to state records, he had been committed once for attempted suicide, before he eventually moved on to the murder of _others_. He must have heard the approaching sirens and knew he was going to be arrested. "Looks like he did himself in," Edwards remarked. "We need to see if the family that lives here is safe."

It didn't take long to find them. They were all in the kitchen, tied up and lying on the kitchen table. Each of them had numerous stab wounds, undoubtedly from the bloody kitchen knife on the counter, covered with what the forensics team would surely discover are Fredericks' fingerprints. All of them were clearly dead already, but they checked vitals just in case, confirming the worst. There was a husband and wife... and a son, who looked no more than five. _The sicko,_ Edwards thought... _I'm glad he's dead too, though I wish he could have been brought to justice..._

"All right," Edwards said, putting his gun away, "It's all over. Let's get the investigators in here and..."

"Shhh!" McMullen hissed. "Hear that?" Edwards listened carefully, and then he heard it too: a very faint sound, coming from upstairs. It sounded like crying... Edwards drew his gun again, and both he and McMullen carefully moved over by the steps. They cautiously climbed upstairs, keeping an eye out for whatever was causing the sound, which sounded even louder now. They entered one of the bedrooms, obviously belonging to the son. As they tried to pinpoint the sound, it eventually led them to a rather small pile of stuffed animals. Carefully moving them aside, they found the source...

Curled up underneath them was a tiny blue imaginary friend. He was crying softly, tears falling around him in a puddle on the carpet. McMullen and Edwards looked at each other, then back at the friend, who sobbed, "...M... my b-boy... W-where's my... boy..."

* * *

"Oh man..." Mac breathed. "That... that's awful..." He had to sit down, as if some great weight had been placed on him. "Poor little guy. No wonder he's so sad..." Even Bloo's eyes were teary after hearing the story. 

"So then they brought him here," Frankie finished sadly. "He had nowhere else to go."

Bloo pounded a fist onto his palm, "We gotta do something for him!"

"Really?" Mac said. "You never want to do anything for _anybody_..."

"No, for real!" Bloo insisted. "We need to cheer him up. We need to make him feel better, even if it's only a little better. Let's throw him a big welcome party or something!"

Frankie thought about it, "Hey, you know... that's not a bad idea! That should make him feel welcome. I'll go talk to Herriman about it right away." She got up and left the room, the other two going with her. "I'm sure, given the circumstances, he would allow it."

"Thanks, Frankie!" Mac said. They headed the opposite way down the hallway, and once they were alone, Mac said, "I'm proud of you, Bloo. That was a thoughtful thing to do."

"Yeah," Bloo replied, staring at the ground while they walked and still looking a bit shaken. "I just _had_ to do something. That was _horrible_..."

Mac nodded, "I can't even imagine what it must be like, what something like that could do to someone..."

* * *

Rainbow closed the door to his room, body still blue, and trudged over to the little bed they had set up for him. The room was empty except for him; Mr. Herriman had decided to allow him a single for now until he got settled in. He slumped down on the bed with his eyes closed, lost in his own thoughts. Tears fell on the pillow, and he whispered to himself, "Kevin…" 

**_To be continued… _**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2 **

The party was in full swing. It hadn't been difficult to convince Herriman to throw the party for Rainbow because he had already been entertaining the same idea. The dining room was decorated with balloons and streamers, and filled with imaginary friends from all across the house. Mac was pleased to see that Rainbow was a bluish-green color, so it was obvious he was starting to enjoy himself. He was currently talking with Wilt and Coco about something or other. Mac took a look around to see what the others were doing; Eduardo was getting some punch, and Frankie was bringing more food out to the big table, which already had bowls of punch and various snacks across it. Madam Foster had also attended, since she could never miss a party willingly, though she looked a bit separated from it... or maybe just bored? Mr. Herriman was simply observing to make certain nothing got out of hand. That reminded Mac to go look for Bloo, who was nowhere to be seen at this time.

As Mac ran off looking for Bloo, Wilt was sipping his own punch, and looked down at Rainbow, answering a question, "Sure, I love it here, but it can get pretty crazy sometimes. I mean, you _never_ know what unusual friends will come to live here. Just last week, we had a friend who had been created to play hide and seek, so that's all he did. For _days_. Like, even during the late hours of the night."

Rainbow chuckled, "Wow! Do you ever play?"

Coco said, "Co co co cococo co co co."

"Yeah," Wilt agreed, "I'm way too big for hide and seek. Now, you'd probably be good at it, Rainbow, since you're so small." Rainbow nodded, smiling; Wilt had to admit, he looked a lot more happy and confident than before.

Mac, in the meantime, had peered into the adjoining rooms, but found no sign of Bloo. He went over by Mr. Herriman, who said, "Ah, Master Mac. Enjoying the festivities, are we?"

"Sure, sure," Mac said, distractedly looking around. "Have you seen..."

"Master Blooregard?" Herriman interrupted. "I share your concern. It is only a matter of time before he makes some sort of disruptive attempt at garnering attention that will threaten the stability of this gathering."

"Exactly," Mac said, nodding. "So if you see him..." He trailed off as he finally spotted him: He had walked into the room from one of the side doors, casually moving through the crowd with a wide smile plastered on his face. _Uh oh, _Mac thought, _that can't be good... _

Bloo nonchalantly got a cup of punch from the table and sipped it. Mac ran over to him and demanded, "All right, what are you up to?"

Bloo shook his head, still smiling, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Mac jabbed a finger in his direction and said, "I'm watching you. I know you're up to something, and it won't happen..."

"Whatever you say," Bloo said, amused. He resumed sipping his punch, but then dropped it in surprise and pointed behind Mac, exclaiming, "Aah! What the heck is _that?_"

"Where?!" Mac said, spinning around. Too late, he realized what had happed and quickly turned back to Bloo, but he had already hopped up onto the table and out of reach, then jumped onto a large plate of gelatin dessert, using it to bounce up and onto the chandelier above the table. It swayed a little from his weight, but he had a good hold of it. Reaching down onto the chandelier, he picked up a megaphone that he had undoubtedly stashed there.

"Attention, everyone!" Bloo shouted through the megaphone. Everyone in the room stopped to take notice, and he continued, "Thank you all for coming to the party. I'm glad to see everyone's having a wonderful time, but now, I'd like to take this opportunity to recognize why we're here. So I say..." He hesitated, reaching for a rope dangling nearby that he had cleverly disguised as a streamer, and pulled it, "...a toast!"

Immediately, slices of toast began raining form the ceiling. Everyone covered their heads as the toast bounced off of them and piled up on the ground and table. Mac didn't know what was worse: getting pelted on the head by the slices, or the horrible pun. But then, Bloo caught one of the pieces in his free hand and waved it, shouting, "That's right, a toast! To the bes--... er, _second_ best imaginary friend in the house: Rainbow!"

Everyone applauded, and Rainbow smiled modestly, turning a very bright green. Mac was impressed... Bloo certainly didn't do anything without making a big deal about it, but it was nice to see him doing it for someone else for once. _That was a little tamer than I was expecting,_ Mac thought... _It's almost as if he still had something left..._

Bloo shouted, "Now let's _party!_" A few other friends around the room took this cue and did their assigned tasks: the room lights went out and were replaced by colored dance lights, and some loud techno started playing. Almost everyone began dancing immediately, with only a few exceptions like Mr. Herriman, though for his frustration, he looked mildly pleased. Madam Foster finally livened up and was out dancing with the others. Rainbow definitely looked like he was having a good time; if nothing else, the party obviously succeeded in its original intention.

* * *

"...So then, Mac and Bloo pull up in the Foster's bus," Wilt told Rainbow as they walked through the halls after the party, "and they're surrounded by cops and other angry people. You should have seen the look on Frankie's face!" Wilt chuckled at the thought of that day; looking back, it was all kind of funny now. 

"That's crazy," Rainbow said with a grin as they went into Wilt's room he shared with the others; right now, it was empty except for them. "That had to have taken a while to sort out."

"You don't even want to know," Wilt remarked. He sat down on the bed; it was Bloo's bed, but as long as Bloo wasn't using it, it was usually okay. "Hey, there's something I wanted to talk to you about; is that okay?" he asked, patting a spot next to him.

Rainbow hopped up onto the bed and sat down, looking up at Wilt, "What is it?"

"Well," Wilt told him, "I'm sorry to bring it up, but you see... I know what happened to you, why you're here."

"Oh..." Rainbow said, lowering his eyes and turning blue again slowly. "You heard..."

Wilt nodded, "If you want to talk about it, I'll listen. If that's okay, I mean..."

Rainbow didn't look up, but nodded slowly. He hesitated, then spoke quietly, "M-my boy... his name was Kevin... He created me because... because his parents used to fight a lot. I... I cheered him up, but I also helped the family... It took a while, but they changed. They never fought again, thanks to me... things couldn't have been better after that, and Kevin was happier than he'd ever been."

"Kevin was lucky to have someone great like you to help out," Wilt said understandingly.

Rainbow's color became a much deeper blue, and he said, "But now... now I don't have anyone..."

"You have us," Wilt reminded him. "The friends at Foster's will always be there for you."

"Thanks," Rainbow said, some of his green returning. "I guess I'll get used to it eventually. What about you?"

"I love this place!" Wilt said with a smile. "All of my best friends I made while I was here."

Rainbow looked at him quizzically, "Really? That's... well, I don't know..." He looked hesitant.

"What is it?" Wilt asked.

"I'm sorry, Wilt," Rainbow said. "Maybe it's just the way you described it, but... I kind of got the impression they didn't respect you that much..."

"Huh?" Wilt said, surprised, "What do you mean?"

"Well, that story you just told me," Rainbow pointed out, "when they wanted you to lie for them. I understand doing it for friends, but it goes along with those other stories you told me before... it really sounds like they're just taking advantage of you sometimes."

"But I like helping my friends," Wilt declared proudly. "Nothing brings me greater joy!"

Rainbow shrugged, "I understand helping others; I did it myself, after all. But friends help friends, and that means they should help you, too. Do they help you? Or do you only help them?"

Wilt stopped to think about this, then said, "I don't want to be a burden.."

"Wanting something for yourself isn't being a _burden_," Rainbow said, hopping back down from the bed and looking up at Wilt again. "It's being a _person_. It's normal, and you can't be afraid of that."

"Yeah..." Wilt agreed, "I guess..."

Rainbow brightened a little and said, "But hey, don't mind me. I'm sure they're really not like that at all. You probably _do_ get what you want at least once and a while, right? Sorry if I jumped to conclusions there." He started for the door, and then hesitated, "Are you coming?"

"I'll be along in a bit," Wilt replied, and Rainbow disappeared out of the door with a small wave and a smile. Wilt smiled back until he was gone, then his expression fell and he sighed to himself. His thoughts drifted to an incident once when all he wanted to do was watch a important basketball game, and his helpful nature forced him to miss it. They hadn't given him an inch, and it was as if they didn't care about what he wanted. Wilt always prided himself on being generous, but Rainbow was right; that generosity was seldom returned.

He looked down at the bed he was sitting on... another example of his unpaid kindness. He had offered it for Bloo's use, and never once did anyone offer him a place to sleep; he had to resort to sleeping under his former bed. And that was just the tip of the iceberg; he began thinking about countless other times he had sacrificed something and got nothing...

_Wait a minute,_ Wilt thought; _I shouldn't get all worked up over this. I mean, it's not like they're doing this on purpose. Some people tend to forget, that's all. They aren't doing this just because they know they'll get away with it. Or... or are they...?_

* * *

"C'mon!" Bloo demanded with a grin. He stood in the dining hall next to another imaginary friend, one shaped line an arrow wearing a Native American headdress. Bloo had directed the request at Mr. Herriman, "Say Chief's name again! Do it! C'mon!" 

"Honestly," Mr. Herriman said, perplexed and slightly annoyed, "I'll never understand what you find so amusing when I address Master Chief; there's nothing unusual about his name..." Bloo broke into fits of laughter again; he didn't know what was better: the joke, or the fact that Herriman was oblivious to it.

"All right, break it up," Frankie said, shooing Bloo and the others out of the hall, which was still littered with streamers, punch glasses, and slices of toast. "I've got a lot of cleaning to do, and if you aren't helping, then scram." Mr. Herriman left as well to attend to some other house duties.

Meanwhile, Eduardo was carrying a large trash bag and was picking up trash from the ground as he moved across the hall. After Frankie finish getting everyone else out, she came back over and said, "Thanks for staying to help, Ed. I appreciate it."

"_Si_... I no mind helping you and senior Herriman," Eduardo said with a smile.

Frankie picked up some cleaning supplies and started wiping down the table, glaring off in the direction Bloo and the others left and saying, "I'm glad to see some people helping, instead of just getting in the way. It's nice to have a hand once and a wh--..." She blinked in surprise as she saw Rainbow enter the room, and said, "Hey, little guy, what's up?

Rainbow was a faint green, so he was probably in a good mood. He said, "I wanted to help clean up, if I could..."

"Oh, you don't need to help," Frankie told him. "This was your party; I don't want to make you work because of it."

"No really, it's all right," Rainbow said.

Before Frankie could respond, Eduardo called over, "Frankie?" He was holding up the empty punch bowl, "Is this trash?"

Walking over and taking it, she said, "No, Ed... look, I'll just take it to the kitchen, okay?" She started off towards the kitchen, picking up a few plates while she was at it. "Rainbow, if you really want, then I guess you could help Ed with the trash." Rainbow nodded, and Frankie took the armload of dishes and the punch bowl with her as she headed out towards the kitchen.

Rainbow walked over and picked a few things up from the ground, arranging them in piles to make it easier for Eduardo to pick them up. He said, "I wanted to thank you guys again for the party; it meant a lot to me."

"_De nada_, senior Rainbow," Eduardo said. "I like parties, and..." He was suddenly shocked out of what he was saying as he picked up a piece of toast; a spider scurried out from underneath it. Eduardo gave a yelp and jumped onto the dining table, dropping the trash bag to the floor. He stood shivering in fright, fixing his eyes on the spider nervously.

Rainbow wandered over and looked at the spider, then up at Eduardo. "Are you afraid of spiders, Ed?"

"_Si, si!_" Eduardo exclaimed. "They trying to get me! They trick me by hiding under the toast!"

Rainbow reached down and picked up the spider. It was huge in his tiny hands, and he turned a slight shade of yellow while he was holding it, but carried it over to the window, hopping up on the sill and letting it go outside. Afterwards, he changed back to green.

Eduardo climbed down from the table breathing a sigh of relief, "_Gracias_..."

"It's all right," Rainbow told him, and the two of them began cleaning up the trash from the spilled bag. "You shouldn't be afraid of something like that..." he told Eduardo.

"But you were scared too," Eduardo said. "I saw you change color!"

"Well yeah," he said, "I was a little scared holding it; after all, it was huge compared to me, and maybe if there were a few of them they could have hurt me, but I was brave anyway." He looked up, "No, I mean _you_ shouldn't be afraid of them, you _specifically_. They'd be dangerous to someone like _me_ long before they'd ever be dangerous to someone like _you_."

Eduardo protested, "But they... they out to get me..."

Rainbow shook his head, "No they aren't. They're not smart, Ed; they just crawl around looking for food, and don't even know anything about us. You should never be afraid of something that can't think well enough to be dangerous to someone your size."

"So... they not out to get me?" Eduardo asked, starting to feel even more relieved. "And neither are the bugs?"

"Don't be silly," Rainbow said with a smile. "There's a better chance of one of the friends in the _house_ being out to get you. The bugs should be the _last_ you'd suspect of something like that."

"I guess you right..." Eduardo said, then added, alarmed, "Wait, one of...? What?"

Rainbow waved it off, "Never mind. It's just an example. Everyone here is great; why would any of them have _any_ reason to dislike you?" He scooped the last of the trash into the bag and said, "If you take that out to the trash, I'll go let Frankie know we're done, okay?"

"Okay..." Eduardo replied, picking up the garbage bag and leaving the hall. As he headed for the trash cans outside, his mind raced... _Could someone be after me? No, they all _mi amigos_, they all like me..._ As he thought this, dozens of instances invaded his thoughts: times he had smashed something by accident that belonged to someone else, times that he had simply gotten in the way. Mr. Herriman could have still been upset over the imaginary dogs he let in, or any number of friends upset due to his problem once with fleas. It suddenly occurred to him that any of them could have a reason to want revenge on him...

He lowered the trash bag into one of the trash cans outside the house, then turned around to look at the building. He could see friends passing by the windows once and a while. Some of them seemed to stare at him before moving on, and he continued to get that creeping feeling of uneasiness, like someone was watching and waiting quietly, waiting for his guard to be down. Swallowing once, he cautiously reentered the house, though he was no longer certain it was safe...

* * *

_What a crazy day,_ Mac thought, as he walked down the hall back to Bloo's room. _I hope we did some good for Rainbow; he was definitely in better spirits; I haven't seen him blue once since the party started, and it looks like he's definitely warming up to Foster's._ As he approached the door, Wilt emerged, and Mac said, "Hey, Wilt. Is Bloo in there?" 

Wilt seemed distracted, and said, "Oh... uhh... no, haven't seen him. Sorry..."

Mac noticed that Wilt was a little less spirited than usual. He said, "Wilt, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Mac, I just... have a lot to think about," Wilt told him. He forced a small smile and continued down the hall. _That was weird,_ Mac thought, but then shrugged it off and went into the room. Sure enough, Bloo wasn't inside, so he sat down on the edge of the bed and waited.

The door opened a few moments later, but it was Eduardo. He peeked inside the room, and then fixed his eyes on Mac, "Oh, _senior_ Mac... it okay; I come back later..."

"Don't mind me, Ed," Mac said. "It's your room too, after all..."

Eduardo replied quickly, "No, it okay, _adios_." and slammed the door shut. Mac could hear him stomping away quickly down the hall. _What's going on?_ Mac wondered. _Both of them are acting strange..._

The door reopened, and Bloo slid into the room, declaring, "You may now begin praising me for coming up with such a good idea. Rainbow's happy, we all had a party, and everything's awesome again." He did a little dance for a moment until he saw Mac's expression. "What? Too awesome?"

Mac frowned, "Bloo, we've got another problem. I just can't put my finger on it, but Rainbow's behavior is a little strange. I think he misses his family a lot, and he's relying on our support too much. We need to find him a home."

"That's easy," Bloo said. "Little guys like that find families in no time..."

"That's not what I mean," Mac explained. "The strange way he's acting is affecting other people too. We don't need to find just any family for him; we need to find another family similar to his."

"I guess, but how?" Bloo asked.

Mac lay back on the bed and stared at the bunk above him, "That's just it. We can't go back to his old family, because they're gone. So who else would know? How do we find out what his family was like?"

"Ask him," Bloo suggested. "Easy enough."

Shaking his head, Mac sat up and said, "And get him all depressed again? No, we've gotta see if we can find out on our own." Mac pondered for a moment, and then said, "We should take a look at the house. See what we can find out there. Just looking at the kid's room should give us enough info to go on."

"Cool, I've never visited a murder crime scene before!" Bloo exclaimed.

"Yeah," Mac said; the thought hadn't occurred to him. The idea of going into a house where a family had been murdered was a little unsettling, especially since the killer hadn't even spared someone as young as a five-year-old kid. The thought frightened him a little, but he reassured himself that nothing could happen...

"So where do we start?" Bloo asked.

"The police station, I guess," Mac answered. "They can tell us where the house is."

Bloo started rummaging through some dresser drawers, saying, "Hold on, I've got a few things that'll help..."

"Like what?" Mac said, not convinced.

Bloo found what he was looking for and quickly put them on. It was a Sherlock Holmes style detective hat, and a plastic bubble pipe shaped like the famous detective's. "There we go, all set!" Bloo exclaimed, and whipped out a magnifying glass for extra measure.

"Bloo," Mac said, "we're not investigating anything; we're just trying to find out what his family was like."

"Find out through _clues_," Bloo pointed out.

"Whatever, let's just go," Mac said, getting up and heading for the door, with Bloo close behind. As they left, Mac added, "And get me a set of those next time, will you?"

* * *

Rainbow sat alone in his room; his color had faded back to blue as he was doodling on some paper with a set of crayons. When he completed what he was drawing, he held it up to take a look at it. It was a smiling child, with "Kevin" written across his shirt. He stared at the drawing for a while, then shoved it under his bed and got a new sheet of paper, taking some red and purple crayons and drawing pictures of Wilt and Eduardo. His color shifted to green as he viewed his handiwork, and after a few moments of thinking, he put the purple crayon away and started drawing again. When he was done, there was a little picture of his own self standing between them... 

**_To be continued…_**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3 **

Mac and Bloo emerged from the front door, ready to head to the police station to find out where Rainbow used to live. "We should hurry," Mac said. "Mom knows I'm out late, but I said I'd be back in a little while, so I don't want her to get worried."

"No sweat," Bloo said, still clutching his magnifying glass. "If we're out too long, I have a few excuses you can use. They're guaranteed to work!"

Before Mac could retort, he heard a sound coming from around back of the house. It sounded like someone was using the basketball court. Curiously, the two went around to look, and they found Wilt practicing his slam dunks. He looked somewhat upset, like he was when Mac saw him just before. "Are you okay?" Mac asked.

Wilt completed another dunk, and then huffed, "I'm all right."

"No you're not," Mac said. "Something's wrong; what is it?"

Wilt sighed and sat down on the ground, rolling the basketball around in his hand, "I guess I'm just a little... a little depressed. I talked to Rainbow about Kevin..."

"Is that his kid?" Bloo asked.

Nodding, Wilt continued, "You know, he and Kevin were real close. Those two would do _anything_ for each other. That's the way I've lived my whole life, but..." He hesitated.

"But what?" Mac asked.

"But I keep asking myself:" Wilt explained, "What about me? What do people do to help _me_? I don't want to be selfish, but I don't want to be self_less_, either. If I give everything I have, what do I have left? If I have nothing, then who _am_ I?"

"You're the kindest person I know," Mac told him. "If everyone were like you, the world would be a much better place." Wilt smiled a little, and Mac said, "We're heading to the police station to see if we can find out more about Rainbow's family. Want to come?"

Wilt shook his head, "No thanks, but good luck!" The two of them waved and headed off, returning to the front of the house. As soon as they were out of sight, Wilt's expression fell, and he muttered to himself, "If everyone was like me... right. _Nobody's_ like me. That's the problem..."

* * *

Officer Edwards sat behind his desk, writing some details on a report; he had been following up on the Fredericks case and still had a lot of paperwork to do on it. It didn't make it any easier that Fredericks had killed himself, because now there were a number of suicide reports and various other tests that had to be performed because of it. Even though those tests had already confirmed that it was indeed suicide, he knew that he would probably be here until late in the evening sorting all of this out.

As he wrote down some more details of the incident, he heard a voice say, "Excuse me... officer Edwards?" Peering over the edge of his desk, he spotted a young boy who looked about eight years old, with a light blue imaginary friend standing next to him that was wearing a detective hat and had a pipe in his mouth. The kid had spoken, and he continued, "I'm Mac, and this is my friend, Bloo. Can we talk to you for a minute?"

"I guess so," Edwards said, setting his pen down. "What is it?"

"We're from Foster's Home for Imaginary friends," Mac told him, while Bloo wandered around the office, examining things with a magnifying glass. "You brought Rainbow over this morning?"

"Ah, yes," Edwards nodded. "How is the little guy?"

"He's doing a lot better," Mac said, "but we wanted to find out some more about his family, so that we can find another one for him as quickly as possible. Can we visit their house, if that's all right?"

Edwards thought about it, and then said, "I don't see any harm in it. The investigators have already cleared out of the scene, so you should be okay to go there. Just... one thing."

"Yes?" Mac asked.

"Don't go into the kitchen," Edwards told him, "Or the couch in the living room. They didn't really clean up, so it's... not a pretty sight."

Cringing, Mac said, "Y-you got it."

Scribbling down on a piece of note paper, Edwards thrust it out at him, along with a key, and said, "Here's the house key and the address. I also put my phone number on there; when you find a home for him, could you give me a call to let me know?"

Mac took the items and said, "No problem. Thanks a lot!" He started for the door; Bloo had been peering closely at a file cabinet and was about to reach out to touch it when Mac grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the office. Edwards shook his head a little, and then returned to his paperwork.

* * *

Wilt took a deep breath and knocked on the door to Rainbow's room. After a few moments, the door opened, and Rainbow answered. He was a deep green color, and he smiled as he greeted him, "Hi, Wilt." 

"Hey, Rainbow," Wilt said. "Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all," Rainbow said, opening the door and letting him inside. Wilt walked in as Rainbow closed the door behind them. He asked, "Can I help you?"

As Wilt crossed the room, he said, "I'm sorry to bother you. I just think you might be right about the people here. Or _maybe_ right. I don't know, I'm just confused... It's given me a lot to think about."

"I know," Rainbow said, some blue mixing in with his green. "Pick me up for a second, will you?" Wilt nodded and reached down, letting Rainbow step into his hand and the lifting him into the air until they were face to face. The tiny friend continued, "How do you feel about helping them, then?"

"I don't know..." Wilt said. "I mean... it... it makes me happy, but sometimes..."

Rainbow's color shifted to blue as he said, "You don't feel fulfilled. You feel like you're left behind, that they're just using you. You feel like you've given everything you have, and have nothing left. And it makes you sad."

Wilt lowered his eyes, trying to keep it together, but then broke down and started crying. He sat down on Rainbow's bed, still holding him in his hand. Rainbow said nothing, just watched him sadly with his big grey eyes, watching him let it out. After about a minute, Wilt sniffled and managed to say, "I... I-I'm sorry... I just... d-don't know... what to do..."

"It's all right," Rainbow reassured him. "The first thing is... stop apologizing. You are your own person and nobody else. You don't need other people's permission or approval to be who you are."

"Okay..." Wilt said, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to..."

"Do _not_ apologize!" Rainbow shouted, suddenly flaring orange; at the same time, he reached out and slapped Wilt on the side of the face. He couldn't get much force behind it, but it stung just enough to snap him to attention as Rainbow shouted, "If you show insecurity, if you show weakness at _all_, people will walk all over you. Understand?"

"Yeah," Wilt said, feeling a little upset at himself. "Yeah, I understand."

Rainbow pointed at him and said, "You have to be forceful. You have to be strong! Think of it like you're playing basketball. If you give the other team the ball and let them score, do you win?"

"No..." Wilt admitted, not having thought of it that way before.

"If the other team steals the ball and scores," Rainbow continued, "does that make _you_ feel good?"

"No!" Wilt said, the anger rising in him.

Rainbow was getting into it as well, his orange color becoming even brighter now, "How _does_ it make you feel?"

"Mad!" Wilt said fiercely. "_Real_ mad!"

"And are you going to stand by and let the other team win?" Rainbow added.

Narrowing his eyes, Wilt replied, "_Never_."

Focusing his gaze on Wilt, Rainbow said, "Then don't let them do it, _ever_. If you wouldn't let them push you around on the court, then don't let them push you around _off_ the court either."

Wilt hopped to his feet and shouted, "Yeah!" He set Rainbow down on the bed and said, "You're right, Rainbow. I am angry, and I'm _not_ going to take it quietly anymore. Thanks!" He marched out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Rainbow watched him go, still frowning, but then his mouth cracked a smile as his color shifted back to green.

* * *

"Hmm, look at this" Mac commented as they walked along the sidewalk, examining the address they were given. "This isn't too far from Foster's. A couple of blocks at most." 

Sticking his magnifying glass between Mac's face and the paper, Bloo said, "It must be a clue!"

Mac shoved the magnifying glass out of the way, "Knock it off! That doesn't mean anything besides being a shorter walk back when we're done looking there."

"All right," Bloo frowned. "Spoilsport..."

Checking his watch, Mac said, "We should have enough time, but let's hurry anyway..." The two of them picked up the pace, heading quickly in the direction of the house.

* * *

Wilt moved through the halls, heading for his room. He had never remembered being this angry before, but it felt justified. He could barely go anywhere, after all, without someone somewhere needing some help. _The next person who asks me for help,_ Wilt thought, _will get a real earful. Either I get some of the things I want, or I'm not lifting a finger._ Even as he thought this, part of him felt guilty for the selfish thoughts, but it was outweighed by his anger. 

"Wilt!" came a voice behind him. He tensed up and turned around; the voice had come from Eurotrish, a friend staying at the house that was an amalgam of various European designs. She was smiling as she declared in her usual generic European accent, "Thank goodness I a-found you! I was a-saying, 'Where could a-Wilt be?' because I needed somebody to a-help with something..."

"Trish..." Wilt started, annoyed.

Trish didn't seem to notice Wilt's objection and continued, "...and I a-thought, 'Who better to a-help with it than Wilt, because he a-help everybody!' So I a-search and a-search, but you are a-nowhere to be found, and my heart, she fills with a-despair..."

"Trish...!" Wilt said more forcefully.

"...but now I a-find you!" Trish continued, oblivious. "You see... I need to a-fold my laundry, and it needs to be a-folded carefully because they are linens from a-France and are a-so delicate. I know from a-many times before that you do it a-right, so I a-go looking for Wilt, and..."

"_Trish!_" Wilt shouted, and she finally stopped her rambling, shocked. Wilt continued forcefully, "Yes, I _have_ helped you with it before, but I've had enough, all right? Maybe I have another job I need to do. Maybe I'm on my way to do something else. Did you ever think of _that?_ You're fully capable of doing it yourself, you know; you don't _need_ to have my help!"

"But..." Trish managed to say, "But I... but you..."

"And another thing," Wilt said with growing frustration, "when have you _ever_ helped me with _my_ laundry? I don't have a lot of it, just a lot of socks really. But it takes a long time to match them up and put them away. But have you ever helped me do it? Have you ever even _offered_ to help me do it? Not... even... _once!_ And yet, you expect me to just drop whatever I'm doing and prance on over to help you with whatever little thing you don't feel like doing yourself? Well, I'm s--... wait, no, I'm _not_ sorry! Do it _yourself!_"

Trish looked teary-eyed, and she said, "S-so... y-you are a-saying..."

"Let me make my answer crystal clear," Wilt told her. He leaned over and yelled at the top of his lungs, "_NO!_"

There was a stretch of silence as Wilt's shout seemed to echo in the air for a moment. Trish's lips wavered as tears filled her eyes, and she started crying loudly. Wilt's look of frustration slowly changed to concern, and then to guilt. He spoke more softly as he said, "Trish... I... look, I-I didn't mean..." She continued crying, and he said, "All right, all right... if it means that much, I'll stop by in a few minutes and..."

In an instant, it was like her personality just switched; Trish stopped crying and hugged Wilt's leg tightly, "Oh a-thank you! I knew I could a-count on you!" She happily skipped off down the hall, her wooden shoes clopping on the ground as she disappeared around the corner in the direction of her room.

Wilt sighed, feeling embarrassed at himself... not for the way he yelled at Eurotrish, but because he gave in. He was too weak to stand up for himself and had caved in to what was obviously--at least, in retrospect--an insincere emotional outburst with the sole purpose of swaying him to help, with no regards to his own feelings. At first, he had felt bad for making her cry, but now he no longer did, because she wouldn't feel bad about toying with his emotions like that.

Well, now it was all said and done; he would have to go and help her with her mindless task. He had a few minutes and considered returning to his room as he originally intended, but changed is mind and quickly jogged off in the opposite direction, towards Rainbow's room.

* * *

"All right," Rainbow said, "come in." 

Wilt came into the room, closing the door behind him. "It happened again," Wilt told him. "I tried to stand up for myself, but fell apart."

"I thought someone might try that again," Rainbow asked, beckoning Wilt closer so that he could pick him up again. He was lifted into the air as he asked, "Who was it?"

"Eurotrish," Wilt said. "I don't think you've met her."

"But she treats you like that a lot?" he asked, becoming a strong shade of orange. "How did that make you feel?"

"Angry," Wilt said, frowning. "I do so much for people like her, and they do nothing for me. And she does it _all_ the time! Just like the other friends here..."

Rainbow looked upset as well, some red beginning to mix in with his orange. "Believe me, I know. I've seen people like that before. Kevin's dad was like that, before I helped change that. That's the thing: sometimes you can change the person, but if you can't, then you can only change yourself. Can Eurotrish be changed?"

"I don't... I don't think so..." Wilt said. "She's been like that for a long time..." He was so angry at this that it began to turn into hatred; the image of Trish's mocking, thankless face seemed to hover in front of him, and he wanted to get rid of it. He didn't want to have to see her face again, even if he had to do something like... Shutting his eyes, Wilt held his head, thinking, _No, don't ever think something like that, ever again._

Rainbow tilted his head, noticing his reaction, "What?"

"Nothing..." Wilt lied. "Nothing at all."

With a frown, Rainbow said, "You hate her, don't you? It's written all over your face."

Wilt hesitated, and then admitted, "Yes... yes, I do..." It was an odd feeling to be sure; Wilt couldn't remember when the last time was that he hated anything, but the realizations he had come to today made him understand that he had hated her all along; he just had denied it until now. And how many others were the same way? "What... what do I... do?"

"Nothing," Rainbow told him. "You can hide it, but it will only get worse. If you want it to go away, the person has to change. There's no other way, trust me. Put all of your hatred into getting her to change, and she will. She has to." He hopped out of his hand and said, "You can do it. It's the only way to make the hate go away."

"Fine," Wilt said, narrowing his eyes. "I can do it..." He walked over and opened the door, stepping back out into the hallway and leaving Rainbow behind. The hatred inside him, now that he knew it was there, was like a seething, tangible thing, and he can't believe he had never noticed it before. He was practically seeing red just thinking about her. Well, he told himself, she's gong to change, one way or another, because this has got to stop...

* * *

"This is it," Mac said, double-checking he address on the piece of paper. The small suburban house didn't look unusual; in fact, it closely resembled the other buildings on the same block. Still, it seemed to loom menacingly in front of them, and the very idea that a murder took place here made it seem all that much more dangerous. It was also quiet, and dark. It was still barely dusk, and there would be enough light to see inside, though he decided they shouldn't stay any longer than they had to. 

Bloo was already scampering up to the porch, examining the doorknob with his magnifying glass. He spoke with an exaggerated Holmes accent, "It would appear to be a way inside. This must be how the killer entered. As I had already deduced."

"Or maybe he used the back door," Mac chided. "It doesn't matter. Let's just do this, okay?" He fished the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, swinging it open. The light from outside spilled into the living room of the house, illuminating it barely enough to see.

Mac reached out and flipped a set of light switches near the door. When nothing happened, he flipped them off and on a few more times, but everything remained dark. "What's wrong with the lights?"

"It's elementary school, my dear Macson," Bloo told him, gripping his bubble pipe. "Obviously, the killer was a energy vampire and drained all of the electricity out of the house."

Mac glared at him, "That's ridiculous. I'll bet the killer _did_ cut the power to the building though." He pulled his backpack off and dug around in it until he found a small penlight, switching it on and returning the backpack to his back. He shined the light into the house and took a deep breath, stepping further inside.

It was pretty messy in the living room; lamps were knocked over, books and things were scattered around on the ground, and there was even a dent in the wall near the kitchen. Shining the light around, he saw part of a police outline on the ground near the couch, where the killer had shot himself. Grimly, Mac gave the couch a wide berth, walking around it and not shining his light anywhere near it to avoid seeing something he didn't want to see; even though the body had been moved, there would no doubt be blood in that area.

Bloo was close behind him, and the scariness of the place was starting to get to him as well. He was clutching his magnifying glass in both hands and had ceased the Holmes accent. He muttered, "So w-what are we looking for again?"

"Kevin's room," Mac said. "It's probably upstairs." He shined the light around until he found a stairway near the back. As he walked towards it, he suddenly realized he was standing right next to the door to the kitchen. He froze in fear, not turning to look, as he knew that the place was probably covered in blood; taking a shaky breath, he started towards the stairs again...

"_Mac!_" Bloo cried out, causing Mac to jump in the air in fright; he turned around to glare at Bloo, but he saw that he was rooting under a chair near the couch bookcase. He pulled out a book that had undoubtedly slid underneath, and held it up, "Look!"

Mac shined his light on it; the cover was white, and had a smiling picture of a kid drawn in crayon, with a green drawing of Rainbow on his shoulder. Written underneath it were the names 'Kevin' and 'Rainbow'. "Good!" Mac told him. "Looks like Kevin kept some drawings. Put it in my backpack, will you?"

Nodding, Bloo opened up Mac's backpack and crammed the book into it. "Our first real clue!" Bloo said. "Good thing you've got a friend with such great eyes, eh?"

"Sure," Mac admitted. "Now... upstairs, then. Whatever we can find like this in Kevin's room will help..." The two of them headed for the stairs, shining the light in front of them...

* * *

Wilt climbed the steps up towards the floor with Eurotrish's room. He was still so angry he couldn't see straight; Trish had crossed the line, and she had to apologize for her terrible behavior. It was an effort just to consider going up to see her, because right now, his hatred was unfathomable, especially for him. It was like nothing he had ever even allowed himself to experience before. There were times he had been outraged in the past, but never hateful. 

When he reached the top of the steps, he saw Eurotrish coming through the door into the stairwell. The sight of her caused his rage to well up again, but Trish didn't seem to notice, "There a-you are! I've been a-waiting, but you never a-show up! I start to think, 'Maybe Wilt doesn't a-like you anymore.' But now, I see you and I'm a-happy again! Now we can a-get to folding the laundry, and..."

"Trish..." Wilt said through his teeth, cutting her off, "Listen _very_ carefully." Trish stopped talking to listen as he continued, "I'm not going to help you anymore. Not _now_, not _ever_. You and I, we've _had_ it. We're _done_. Understand?"

Trish began crying again, and Wilt shut his eyes against it. She bawled, "Oh Wilt, h-how can you be so a-mean to me?"

"_Mean?!_" Wilt said, his anger rising even more. "Just _listen_ to yourself! You expect me to just do everything for you at the drop of a hat!"

"Well, of a-_course_ I do," Trish exclaimed, her insincere tears drying up rather quickly. "You're a-Wilt, no? That's a-what you do!"

Her words stung Wilt hard. His voice became quiet, "So that's what you think of me. All this time."

"That's a-right," Trish said angrily. "If you won't a-help me, then fine... I'm a-going to have a talk a-with Mr. Herriman." She inclined her head and brushed past him, starting to walk down the steps.

In that moment, Wilt's hatred boiled to a maximum now seeing exactly what Trish thought of him and realized that she didn't care about him or his feelings one iota. All she cared about was herself. The hate he felt for her gripped his very soul, and without further thought, he growled, "_Grrraaahh!_" and shoved her hard against her back. With a yelp, Trish toppled forward and fell down the stairwell, striking her head against the steps with a loud _krakk_ before continuing her tumble. Wilt gasped in sudden realization of what he just did, and covered his mouth in horror as she bounced off step after step before finally collapsing onto a landing in a heap. She lay still; it was all too clear even from a distance that she wasn't just knocked out; her neck was twisted at too sharp an angle.

Panic swept over Wilt, and he didn't know what to do. He felt sick to his stomach as the full weight of his actions began to sink in. Terrified at himself, he fled the scene quickly... he needed help, and didn't know where to turn, except to the only one he felt he could trust...

**_To be continued…_**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4 **

The door to Rainbow's room flew open, and Wilt ran inside, slamming the door behind him. Normally, Wilt would never just barge in like this, but this was far from a normal situation. Rainbow sat up abruptly from his bed, startled and turning yellow for a moment before fading back to green. "Oh, Wilt, it's you," he said. "What's wrong?"

Wilt leaned against the door, sweating heavily. He stammered, "I... I-I... I just..."

"Calm down," Rainbow said, hopping off the bed and trotting over, becoming somewhat blue with concern. "It's all right. Just tell me what happened."

Sliding down the door frame and sinking into a sitting position, Wilt spoke with a low voice, "I... k--... k-killed... her... I didn't... m-mean..."

"Eurotrish?" Rainbow asked. Wilt barely managed to nod; he was quietly panicking and looked scared. Rainbow walked over to him and said, "Pick me up." Wilt didn't respond at first, and Rainbow turned orange, shouting, "_Pick me up!_"

Wilt snapped out of it for a moment and scooped up the tiny friend, holding him face to face. He immediately began to panic more openly, "What do I do?! I didn't mean... it was an accid--... I can't... oh my gosh... What do I do... I'm a murderer... I have to get out of...!"

"_Wilt!_" Rainbow exclaimed. "Get a hold of yourself!" Wilt quieted down, doing his best to keep from whimpering, though his body continued to shake. Rainbow continued, "First of all, how did it happen?"

"I... I got mad..." Wilt explained, "a-and pushed her... down the stairs..."

"And was anyone else around to see it happen?" Rainbow asked. When Wilt shook his head, he pointed out, "Then nobody knows it was you who did it. You'll be safe."

"Y-yeah, but..." Wilt protested; what did that matter? Rainbow's reaction seemed less horrified than he would have thought...

"Now listen to me," Rainbow said carefully. "Don't feel bad about this. Think about how you felt about her. Didn't she make you angry?" He grew a brighter orange and added, "Weren't you fed up with her? She wasn't about to change for you, was she?"

Wilt nodded, "Yeah... yeah, that's right..." He felt so conflicted; he was undeniably angry, but he couldn't understand why he felt that way, especially when he should be feeling sad, guilty and terrified. Why was the anger stronger than all of that? Did he really hate her that much?

"But now, think about it," Rainbow told him, shifting now to a green color. "She's gone. She'll never bother you again. There's no longer any reason for you to feel upset, and no reason to feel bad about what you had to do. Let the anger go... how do you feel now?"

Wilt's anger faded, and to his surprise, so did all of the guilt for having killed someone. Instead, he felt... refreshed, as if a load had been lifted off his shoulders. It suddenly made so much sense; there was no need for any regret for what he did. The way Eurotrish made him feel, the insincerity and selfishness she displayed... all that was forever gone, and would trouble him no more. In its place, he found only bliss; for the first time in his life, he felt truly happy. He never thought such a terrible act would feel so _right_... and best of all, he had gotten away with it...

"How do you feel?" Rainbow repeated.

With a smile, Wilt admitted, "I feel good... happy. I actually feel happy..."

"There, you see?" Rainbow said, smiling with him with a bold green color. "Everything's going to be just fine... now, there's just one more thing you need to do, to make sure nobody finds out..."

* * *

Mac moved down the hall quietly, shining the penlight ahead of him. One of the first doors in the hall was already open, and he caught sight of a teddy bear sitting just inside. This must be Kevin's room, he thought, moving up closer to get a better look. Bloo stayed close behind and said, "Are you sure it's safe?" 

"Of course it is," Mac replied. "The killer's long gone."

"Yeah, but maybe he left traps," Bloo insisted. "We could be walking right into one!"

Mac looked back at him, "But the cops were already through here. They would've set of the traps if there were any."

"Unless..." Bloo said, thinking hard. "Unless... they were _delayed_ traps! Maybe they take a whole day to go off! Quick, what time is it?"

"_There are no traps!_" Mac shouted.

"Okay, geez!" Bloo said, throwing up his hands. "Just trying to be careful." The two of them walked into the room to get a better look. This was without a doubt the boy's room. The wallpaper had airplane designs across it, there were piles of toys and stuffed animals, and a little mobile of the solar system hung from the ceiling. There was a small bed with rockets on the bedspread, and a closet full of various colors of clothing.

Mac made a mental note of the things he saw, and said, "Look at all this stuff. What kind of kid do you think Kevin was?"

"Kind of a sissy if you ask me," Bloo muttered, picking up a yellow pony from the pile of stuffed animals and giving it a strange look. It suddenly squeaked in his hands, and he cracked a smile, giggling.

"Rocket ships, airplanes, solar system," Mac noted. "He liked flying, that's for sure." He rooted through the toys, finding a lot of toy airplanes and spaceships, further supporting his theory. "Could make sense... rainbows are found in the sky, after all, and if he was sad at he time..." He stopped talking and glared at Bloo, who was still squeaking the pony doll. "_Stop_ it!"

Frowning, Bloo dropped the doll and said, "So if Kevin likes flying, all we need is to find someone else who also likes flying?"

"Maybe," Mac said, though something was bothering him and he couldn't figure out what it was. Something about the planes, or the rockets... then it hit him. "Wait, Bloo. What's wrong with this whole thing?"

"You won't let me keep the pony?" Bloo answered.

"No, I mean about Kevin and Rainbow," Mac said. "If Kevin loved flying, don't you think he would imagine a friend who could also fly?"

"Well... um..." Bloo said. "Maybe... maybe he can, and we've just never seen him do it?"

"Or maybe," Mac suggested, "he could fly at one time, but can't anymore." He scratched his head, "Or maybe, the rainbow thing was enough of a connection. I don't know... let's look to see if we can find any pictures of Rainbow. Maybe he used to have wings or something..."

* * *

It didn't take long for Eurotrish to be found, which caused a huge stir throughout the house. Friends began gathering around, making it hard to approach the scene. Mr. Herriman and Frankie pushed their way through the crowd, and upon seeing Trish's condition, Mr. Herriman blanched, "My _goodness_...!" 

"Oh no!" Frankie exclaimed, running down the steps and examining her closely. She turned around to the others and shooed them back, "Give me some room!" The friends piled back on the steps and allowed Herriman through, who looked on rather helplessly. Frankie checked her pulse, and then looked up sadly at Herriman, shaking her head.

There were murmurs from the crowd. The rabbit lowered his eyes and took off his hat, holding it to his chest. Knowing his duty in this instance, he turned to the others and said, "Please... return to your rooms. I will make an... an announcement shortly." Everyone else obediently left, leaving the two of them alone with the body.

"Poor girl," Frankie said. "She must've tripped."

Mr. Herriman nodded, "I agree. However, it is still rather shocking. She only fell one flight of stairs after all, so she must have fallen with some force."

Frankie looked up at him, "You think she was running?"

"Perhaps," Mr. Herriman remarked. "Or, she could have been knocked down by someone else on the stairs."

"What?" Frankie said, confused. "But then why hasn't anybody said anything about it?"

Adjusting his monocle thoughtfully, Mr. Herriman said, "Why indeed..."

Frankie gaped at him for a moment, and then exclaimed, "What's _wrong_ with you, man? One of our residents was just killed, and you're already trying to _blame_ somebody for it? Trish had those big shoes; she was probably running and tripped! It's the easiest answer!"

"And the most convenient," Mr. Herriman pointed out. "Do not think I am being insensitive, Ms. Francis; quite the contrary, it grieves me to see an untimely end to _any_ imaginary friend. For the sake of Ms. Eurorish, however, the precise circumstances of this tragedy must be determined in order to prevent it from occurring again."

"Fine," Frankie huffed. "We should get the police to take a look then. We need to do _something_."

"Yes, yes," Mr. Herriman nodded. "I will call the police immediately, and also inform Ms. Eurotrish's creator; I believe I have their European telephone number on file. In the meantime, please cordon off the area so that it remains untouched." He gave Trish a heartfelt glance before hopping off quickly downstairs.

Frankie watched him leave, and then laid a hand on Trish's back, frowning sadly. Accidents like this weren't unheard of over the years she's been at the house, but it was definitely uncommon, and the death of an imaginary friend was always a terrible loss. They could practically last forever if it weren't for things like this...

* * *

The area had been clear of all other friends, but Frankie was unaware that one was still hiding a few floors above and watching her. Eduardo had listened the whole time and had heard Herriman's accusation that someone had possibly pushed Trish. He had been hiding from the house for most of the day, afraid that someone may be out to get him, and was beginning to calm down... but now, he knew something was happening. If someone had killed Eurotrish, then they would surely be back for more. Or maybe it was a warning to him that he was next. 

He lingered only for another moment, and then fled as quietly as possible, trying to find someone who would protect him, or at least help. As he moved down one of the halls, he halted in front of a room, which he knew belonged to Rainbow. He reached out and gave it a very soft knock.

It opened, and Rainbow stood at the door, saying, "Wow, I must be popular today. Come on in, Ed..." Eduardo nodded and came in, while Rainbow gave a small smile and closed the door behind them...

* * *

It didn't take too long for Mac and Bloo to find some family pictures, since there were some hanging in the hallway, but they wanted to find as many as they could. Going through one of the closets in the hall, they found some more, including a box full of loose photos, and an album that looked like a vacation from last summer. One thing they were noticing in all the pictures, however... 

"Where's Rainbow?" Bloo voiced after a while. "He sure must be camera shy... or maybe he's the one taking all the pictures..."

"No way," Mac said, thumbing through picture after picture. "There would have been at least _one_ picture of him. What's going on here?"

"Maybe he doesn't show on film," Bloo suggested. "Rainbow's a ghost!"

By now, Mac hadn't even bothered to respond to any more of Bloo's ridiculous claims. He mused, "Maybe... maybe they didn't know about him... maybe Kevin kept him a secret. I mean, he's small enough to hide away easily..." He looked at the photos of Kevin, smiling widely and standing near his parents, the tiny friend nowhere in sight. There had to be something... something...

Something suddenly stuck out from the corner of his eye. Bloo was still sifting through the photos from the box, and one of them had writing on it. He quickly grabbed the photo and looked at it; the boy was on the front wearing a party hat and sitting in front of a birthday cake. On the back of the photo, a quick note had been scrawled:

**Gregory, 5th birthday **

Mac blinked in surprise, "Gregory? But... but then... who's Kevin?"

* * *

Rainbow turned from the door and looked up at Eduardo, "So you really think someone is after you?" 

"Yes, you right when you said before," Eduardo fretted. "They already get someone else! Eurotrish _es muerta_! They come after me next! What do I do?" He spread out his arms in a sign of helplessness.

"All right it's time I leveled with you," Rainbow told him. With two careful leaps, he jumped onto Eduardo's outstretched arm, then onto his head. Eduardo looked up at the tiny friend hanging from one of his horns, who said, "I can't lie to you, Ed. But I also don't want to scare you..."

"Tell me," Eduardo begged, "please!"

Rainbow took a deep breath, shifting yellow as he said, "There's someone... someone scary out there... th-they even frighten me. I don't know w-who it is exactly, but they know you. And they're d-definitely out for you."

The sight of Rainbow suddenly looking so afraid, so less brave than he had seen him before, made Eduardo start shaking. He said, "You... you don't _know_... who it is?"

Rainbow shook his head, "It's just... just what I have been seeing in people since I got here. The way everyone looked at you, and treated you. It could be any of them. And... and when I heard what happened to Eurotrish... there's no doubt... he was sending a sign. H-He was saying that you're next..."

A cold fear swept over every inch of Eduardo's body. It wasn't his usual paranoia, but real fear; normally, he could only suspect and be afraid of some phantom threat that seemed to follow him wherever he went, but this was real. He had confirmation that something was really out to get him, and that it wasn't just to frighten him or cause him pain. It was a real threat on his life. The thought paralyzed him, but he managed to say, "W-what... do I... d-do..."

"There's only one thing you _can_ do, Ed," Rainbow said, his color shifting to red. "You have to strike them _first_. You have to deliver the first blow... it's either them or you."

Eduardo protested, "But I... I too s-scared..."

"Then you're _already_ dead!" Rainbow growled, turning brighter red. "You don't have a choice! Do you want to die? If you want to live, you _must_ kill, or be killed..."

A strange feeling washed over Eduardo, feelings of courage. He knew that Rainbow was absolutely right. If he didn't kill first, the he would be killed instead. He knew there were few people in the house that could match his strength, his ferocity, especially if he surprised them first. It was for his _own_ survival. If he showed fear, he was dead.

"Are you ready?" Rainbow asked, hopping down from his head and going over to the door to open it. Eduardo's face was steeled, and he nodded once silently; Rainbow swung the door open and let the large friend walk confidently out into the hallway...

* * *

"Did his name change?" Bloo suggested. "Did he have a twin? Did he have a clone? Is he a visitor from an alternate dimen--" 

"Bloo!" Mac shouted. "Knock it off! I don't know what's going on, but we have to find out. Something is very, very wrong here..." He looked at the back of photo after photo; all of them that had notes written on them referred to the boy as Gregory. The parents were named Jeff and Darlene. The name Kevin wasn't written on a single one of the photos. But it didn't make any sense, because Rainbow had talked about Kevin, and they had seen the name on...

Suddenly recalling something, Mac took off his backpack and reached inside, pulling the notebook Bloo had found before. 'Kevin' and 'Rainbow' were written on the cover along with the crayon drawings. The side of the book had scuff marks on it that looked like they came from a shoe, like someone had kicked it. Flipping the book open, he was surprised to find pages and pages of writing, far more than any 5 year old could ever have written. It looked like some sort of diary. A cold feeling ran down his spine as he read a few of the first scrawled entries in the book, piecing it together...

* * *

Kevin hid behind the side of the couch in the small trailer park home, watching his parents with teary eyes as they yelled at each other. "You're lazy!" his mother shouted, a gaunt, almost skeletal woman who looked at least fifteen years older than she really was. "I work my fingers to the bone. To the _bone!_ We wouldn't even _have_ a home if it weren't for _me!_ I have to work a job and take care of this family, while you sit around all day and do _nothing!_" 

Kevin's father, a large tub of a man, wasn't even looking at the woman; his half-closed eyes were fixed on their black-and-white television set, a beer bottle in one hand and his other arm resting on the back of the couch. "Shaddup," he said, nearly spitting the words. "All ya do is nag, nag, nag. Yer lucky I don't glue yer trap shut; it's the only way I kin get any peace 'round here."

"Don't you start that with me!" his mom scolded. "You're lucky to have someone doing things for you! If I wasn't here, you'd wither away to nothing! You _need_ me, because nobody else will put up with you!"

His father chuckled under his breath and said, "Bah, yer lucky ta have me, 'cause yer too ugly ta get anyone else."

Furious, his mother said, "I don't have to put up with this! I can leave anytime I want; you and that brat son you wanted can go to hell!"

"You ain't leavin'," his father said matter-of-factly.

"Yes I _am!_" she shouted back.

Lifting himself from the couch, he turned to face her, and Kevin knew what was coming, ducking back around the edge of the couch and clenching his eyes shut. He heard a loud _smack_, followed by his father repeating more loudly, "You _ain't leavin'!_"

At this point, Kevin couldn't bear to hear them and ran out the back door, which had been left ajar. Once outside, he slumped down against the side of the home and buried his head in his hands, crying heavily; tears ran down the sides of his arms as he wept. His parents fought like this constantly, and it made Kevin feel worse and worse until he couldn't take it anymore. He wished there was some way he could make them both stop, some way to make his life better...

Something rested gently on his shoulder, and he blinked, raising his head from his hands and looking through tear-filled eyes. A small, green imaginary friend had appeared on his shoulder, which looked at him with his big gray eyes and said, "Everything's going to be all right. No matter what darkness the world will bring, I will always be your rainbow that will guide you to the light. I will show you how to be strong, how to take things into your own hands, and how to make it all better. Kevin Fredericks, your life is about to take a new turn..."

* * *

"Oh my gosh..." Mac breathed as he read the diary entries. "Oh my gosh... Bloo, we were all wrong!" 

"We were?" Bloo asked, not understanding. "About what?"

Mac was still in shock, but explained, "The kid who lived here, Gregory... he didn't create Rainbow, and neither did anyone else who lived here! It wasn't _any_ of them! This book didn't even belong to them; it must have been dropped by accident and kicked under the chair downstairs..."

Bloo looked even more confused, "But then... then who...?"

"Don't you see?!" Mac exclaimed. "It was Fredericks! The _killer!!_ And that means..." The blood drained from his face, and he said, "We've gotta get back to Foster's _now!_"

* * *

Rainbow sat on the edge of his bed, staring intently at the door. He was waiting... waiting for Eduardo to return, or Wilt. Manipulating them had been easy, far easier than it had been for all the time he spent with Kevin. He accomplished in a day what had taken years before, and it was only the start. There was much insecurity across many of the residents of the house, making it the perfect place to start anew. But he wished he didn't have to start over; despite how he had manipulated Kevin, he did care for him and nothing could ever replace that. Now that Kevin was gone, his hatred for the rest of humanity as a whole was all he had left. For all the hardships Kevin had been forced to endure, torment which eventually drove him to take his own life, he would make them suffer... 

**_To be continued… _**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

Mac and Bloo ran as fast as they could out of the house and down the sidewalk. Luckily, they were only a few blocks from Foster's; they would have called first, but Fredericks had apparently cut the phone lines to the house in addition to the power. As they were running, Mac was scanning through the book quickly. "Listen to this," he said, reading a passage aloud: "'I feel like a different person when Rainbow is around. We share many of the same feelings; whenever they change in me, Rainbow matches it with his changing color. Sometimes I wonder if these are my own emotions, or if I'm reflecting how Rainbow feels. Or perhaps he is the one mirroring me. But these feelings remain even after he leaves. Why, then, do I not feel like me? I can't even tell what's real anymore.'"

"He and Rainbow felt the same as each other? _All_ the time?" Bloo asked.

"Must be," Mac said, still reading. "Listen... 'The times I feel the most hatred, when I want to kill, Rainbow is almost always there, and always red. He feels the hatred too, and I can see it.' What if how Rainbow feels affects others around him? When _he_ hates, so does Fredericks... you see?"

"So he can force his feelings onto people?" Bloo said. "Wow... if I could do that, I'd make it so that when Herriman and Frankie were ever mad at me, I'd just make them happy again."

Mac nodded, "Exactly! And Rainbow could push Fredericks into enough hatred so that he would kill for him! Or he comes to Foster's and... that would explain how come people are acting so strange! Wilt and Eduardo... oh my gosh! Bloo, what if he's doing the same to them?!"

Bloo cringed, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Mac replied, "but we've gotta hurry up before something bad happens." He tucked the book under his arm and picked up the pace; he hoped he was wrong and that Rainbow was merely a tagalong to Fredericks' crimes, and not the _cause_ of them...

* * *

Mr. Herriman shut the door to his office, hopping over to the desk and starting to go through his files. He felt particularly weary from the day's events, which was perfectly understandable, given the circumstances. The incident with Eurotrish would create a lot of paperwork, not to mention he would have to announce the loss to the rest of the house, and of course, inform her creator. The loss of an imaginary friend was a rare and sad occasion, and one he did not look forward to dealing with, but it was his duty, after all. 

First, however, he had to call the police. Scooping up the phone, he pulled the antique receiver and held it to his ear. Before he could dial, however, he noticed there was no dial tone coming from the line. "Curious," he remarked to himself. Setting the phone down, he looked around and decided it would be best to see if any of the other phones in the house were out. It wasn't terribly unusual for the phones to have problems because of the house's age, but still...  
A knock came at the door, and Mr. Herriman called out, "Come in!" The door opened, and he said, "Ah, Master Wilt. My apologies, but this really isn't a good time..."

Wilt stepped inside and said, "It'll just take a minute. Are you alone?"

"Yes, of course," Mr. Herriman replied.

Wilt narrowed his eyes slightly; he said, "Good," and closed the door behind him...

* * *

Eduardo moved down the hallway of Foster's; unlike his previous sneaking around, he no longer had any apprehension and walked straight down the middle with confidence. That isn't to say he wasn't being cautious; he was carefully listening alertly for the slightest sound of trouble, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice. The halls were quiet, since everyone had returned to their rooms; if he was being followed, they were doing so from someplace hidden. The shadows seemed to be following his every move, masking the location of his assailant. Part of Eduardo wanted to be afraid, but he knew that if he showed _any_ fear... 

A crash came from downstairs; it sounded like breaking glass. Eduardo thought furiously, unsure how to react; if it was the killer, he could go a put an end to it right now. But if it was a trap, he would be blundering right into it. _No,_ he thought, _there is no trap which can hold me, I too strong for it... I too smart for it, I know it is coming!_ He carefully moved towards the door leading to the stairwell...

"_There_ you are, Ed," came a voice behind him; it was Frankie, who seemed to have come out of nowhere, causing Eduardo to freeze in his tracks. She continued, "I _finally_ found you. I've been looking for you all day!"

The hair stood up on the back of Eduardo's neck as he dared not turn around. Everything seemed to fall into place at once. Frankie had plenty of reasons to want to do away with him; he was constantly a huge burden, and he suspected the stress of it had finally gotten to her. She had to have been the one to kill Eurotrish, because why else would she have gotten so defensive when Mr. Herriman had suggested the possibility of the "accident" being intentional? Then, all it took was a loud noise to distract him, and she had gotten the drop on him. The fear of knowing he was seconds from death tried to rise in him, but he would not allow it. He had to act now, just as Rainbow had told him, or it was all over...

Growling, Eduardo spun around and backhanded Frankie across her torso, the strength of the blow lifting her off her feet and sending her flying backwards. She hit the ground and slid to a stop against the wall of the corridor, wincing from the impact and clenching her eyes shut. The wind was knocked out of her; with a cough, she clutched her midsection opening one eye back up and wheezing, "Ed... w-what did you do that f--... _whoa!_" Reacting as fast as she could, she rolled to one side as one of the end tables in the corridor smashed against the wall where she had just landed.

Frankie strained to breathe, looking incredulously at Eduardo standing there after he had thrown the table; his face was filled with anger and hatred. She didn't understand... _What did I do?_ she thought... _Why is he trying to hurt me?_ Before she could catch her breath, he lowered his horns and charged. Without much time to react, Frankie dropped down under the attack. The giant horns hit the wall, impaling a painting of Madam Foster; it occurred to Frankie that had she not lowered herself just then, it could have been her impaled on the horn. Eduardo wasn't just trying to _hurt_ her... he was trying to _kill_ her.

Now in a panic, Frankie scrambled out from underneath the horns and tried to get away. Eduardo grabbed her ankle before she could, and lifted her up, throwing her against the opposite wall, smashing through a potted plant that was against it. The force of this impact was greater than before, but she was unable to cry out, still winded and trying to recover from the first hit. She crumpled to the ground, coughing some more. A few drops of blood fell on the carpet from a cut on her cheek, and she strained to lift herself back up. Wheezing, she said hoarsely, "...s-somebody... gasp... pl-... please..."

Eduardo stomped towards her... Frankie could see his eyes, which looked upon her almost without recognition. There was no mistaking his intentions now, no matter how unthinkable it seemed for him. She realized that this was her last chance; if she didn't do something now, she was dead. Her hands felt around frantically, looking for something to defend herself with, and her fingers closed around a shard of clay from the pot she had be thrown into. As Eduardo reached for her, she thrust it out, plunging it into the fur on his side.

Eduardo yelped, stumbling backwards and staring at the shard sticking out of his fur. It didn't look like he had been hurt much, but he was shocked nonetheless, and began pulling it out. Frankie hurriedly picked herself up and ran, getting away from him as quickly as possible. By the time he was paying attention to her again, she was long gone. He dropped the shard on the ground and narrowed his eyes.

Frankie made plenty of distance and made sure she was safe before she stopped, leaning up against a wall and panting as she tried to sort everything out. _Was Ed the one who killed Trish?_ she wondered. _That couldn't be... but then, why... why'd he attack me...? I've got to go find Herriman!_ Gathering her strength, she moved on, hoping Eduardo wasn't still following her...

* * *

Mac swung open the door to the house. It was getting late, so there wasn't anyone around, the shadows of the old place creating a rather dark and foreboding scene. Mac didn't have time to be scared, however; instead, he made a beeline to Mr. Herriman's office, with Bloo close behind. He knocked on the door and called out, "Mr. Herriman!" but received no reply, so he opened the door and went inside. 

He gasped as he immediately noticed something was wrong. The rabbit was nowhere to be seen, but one of the windows behind the desk had been smashed, as if something large had been thrown through it. The drapes on the side of the window blew ominously in the wind. "What _happened_ in here?" Mac wondered aloud, a feeling of fear beginning to creep into him again.

Bloo edged over by the desk and said, "Maybe... m-maybe he's... redecorating, or..."

"Come on, Bloo," Mac said. "You're thinking the same thing I am, and you know it." He went closer to the window and examined it; there wasn't much glass inside, which means whatever had crashed through it had initially been inside and was thrown outside. "Maybe if we go outside, we'll find whatever it was..."

"Gggk!" came a surprised yelp from Bloo, and he stumbled back, looking at the ground. Mac turned and saw what he was looking at, and was similarly shocked. There appeared to be a small splatter of blood on the ground next to Herriman's chair, and near the blood rested the rabbit's monocle, a large crack showing in it. From the look of things, there had definitely been some sort of struggle, and more small blood drips lead towards the window. "Wh-... what happened to Mr. Herriman?" Bloo stammered.

"I-I don't think we wanna know," Mac replied, eyes fixated on the blood. It began to dawn on him that the possibility of a roaming murderer being in the house was very real. He started to fear for his safety, and part of him wanted to grab Bloo and run out of the house as quickly as possible... but he also realized his friends at the house would likewise be in danger, and he could never live with himself if he left them to be more possible victims. If there were only something he could do...

He suddenly remembered the paper with the address on it that officer Edwards had given him. Quickly pulling it out, he flipped it over, and just as he recalled, the officer's number was written on he back. He quickly grabbed the phone from Mr. Herriman's desk, but as he started trying to dial it, he realized the line was dead. He hung up and turned to Bloo, saying, "Bloo, I know you can never resist making prank calls, so you've _gotta_ know where all the phones in the house are; where's the nearest one from here?"

"Down the left hallway!" Bloo immediately answered. "C'mon!" The two of them emerged from the office and started quickly crossing the foyer, heading for the hallway on the opposite side...

They barely made it past the stairs when a hand reached out and grabbed Bloo, picking him up. Mac skidded to a halt and spun around to see what happened; he saw Wilt emerge from behind the steps, holding Bloo up by the top of his head. His face was filled with anger; even at a glance, Wilt looked strikingly different than the last time they saw him. Mac was startled at his sudden appearance and asked, "What are you doing?"

Wilt seemed more focused on Bloo, who was struggling in his grip, and he said, "You're the _worst_ of them... you, and everyone else... but _especially_ you... you, Trish, Herriman..."

On the mention of Mr. Herriman, the blood drained from Mac's face. His mention of Eurotrish didn't bode well either. "Wilt!" Mac exclaimed in disbelief, "You _didn't_...?"

Wilt was breathing quickly in a mixture of fatigue and what seemed like desperate rage. "You don't know what it's like," Wilt told then, his voice shaking. "I... I can't _take_ it anymore... you... they... everyone always pushing me around, taking advantage of everything I do... and never, _ever_ give... give _anything_ back..."

_He's lost it,_ Mac thought... _We've got to do something!_ "Wilt," he said carefully, "we're your friends. Of _course_ we'd do anything for you, and we _have_. Don't you remember that time you ran away from Foster's? We dropped everything and went after you, because we care about you."

Bloo, still struggling, said, "Yes! What he said, what he said!"

"N-no," Wilt stammered, "you d-don't. You... a-and the others... I was t-told..."

Mac took a step towards him and said, "You've been talking to Rainbow. Has he been telling you all this?" When Wilt nodded, Mac continued, "Wilt, listen to me... Rainbow's been lying to you, and changing how you feel. You can't trust him, understand?"

"Why... why not?" Wilt asked, looking a bit shocked.

"Because he was with the killer!" Mac explained. "We all thought the boy at the house was his kid, but he _wasn't_. Kevin was the name of the _killer_, and he was Rainbow's creator. He's been trying to control you the same way he was controlling Kevin!"

"But..." Wilt said, "but I... h-he was so... no, I was angry! I felt it, I really did... I h-hated..."

"Was he angry when you were?" Mac interrupted. "When he turned red, did you begin to hate the others? He can make people feel the same as he does; he was _making_ you feel hatred." Wilt's face was frozen as he considered this, and Mac added, "I know you, Wilt; you could never hate _anyone_. You're the nicest, most caring person I know. I know people sometimes take advantage of that, and I'm guilty of it too sometimes. But I never thought of you as anything less than my friend, and if you feel bad because of that... then I'm sorry. And I'm sure everyone else feels that way too." Bloo had stopped struggling by now and tried to nod, difficult from the way he was being held.

Wilt looked like he was starting to break down, and he released Bloo, who quickly scurried back over to Mac. With a heartrending cry, he turned and ran from the two of them, disappearing down one of the halls. Mac knew that Wilt most likely came to his senses just now and realized what he had done, and he felt bad for him. He wanted to provide some sort of comfort, anything to help him feel better, but there were more pressing matters: the police needed to be called, and Rainbow needed to be stopped.

"Bloo," he said, "go after Wilt and see if the two of you can find Eduardo. I'll call the police!" Bloo nodded and ran off in the direction Wilt went, while Mac turned and continued down the hall to locate a phone. His mind raced with all the new info Wilt had given him.

* * *

Frankie held her midsection, struggling to breathe as she moved down the hall. Whatever had happened when Eduardo had hit her the first time, it must have injured something; pain shot through her sides with every breath she took, and with every beat of her heart. She still couldn't get enough air in her lungs to call out for help. Briefly she wondered if she had broken a rib or was bleeding internally, but she couldn't think about it too long; Eduardo might still be after her.

She came up to a set of doors, leaning up against them and wheezing. She wished she could just take a break and rest for a few moments... but then, the distant sound of Eduardo's heavy footfalls began to grow louder. In desperation, she pulled the door open and threw herself inside, closing the doors quickly behind her.

The library was usually quiet even during the day, but now that it was dark, the silence seemed unearthly so, not a sound anywhere except for the echo of the shutting doors reverberating through the chamber. Using some more of her precious remaining strength, Frankie quickly slid a waist-high bookcase in front of the doors to brace them, although she knew that would do little to slow someone as fiercely strong as Eduardo. Panting, her legs gave way and she fell down to a sitting position, clutching her midsection tighter. She crawled away down the length of bookcases, putting as much distance as she could between her and the door.

Once she got to a relatively safe position, wedged in a space under one of the shelves, she relaxed, trying to recuperate and get her breath back. To her dismay, it wasn't getting any easier; she would definitely need medical attention after this... if there was an 'after this' anyway. The sound of Eduardo's footsteps got closer, and for a moment, they came to a stop, right outside the doors. Everything was perfectly quiet once again... Frankie cringed and listened intently, the only sound now being the ferocious pounding of her own heart, still sending jabs of pain with each beat. _Go away,_ she thought... _Just keep going, don't look in here don't look in here..._

With a crash, the doors slammed open, the bookcase being knocked aside like it wasn't even there. Eduardo, still enraged, stomped into the room and looked around, trying to catch sight of his target. Frankie pulled herself further into her hiding place and clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound of her pained breathing. She listened carefully, but did not hear anything. Eduardo had not moved an inch. He was waiting and listening as well, the silence of the library hanging maddeningly in the air...

A faint sound interrupted the quiet around them: tiny footsteps, almost inaudible, came into the library and for a moment, Frankie was concerned for the safety of whoever had undoubtedly come to investigate the noise. Part of her was relieved to have a distraction, however, and she waited, listening to see what would happen. Eduardo spoke to the new arrival, "You were right; there _was_ somebody. It was _Frankie!_"

The arrival spoke and she recognized the voice. Rainbow asked, "And she's in here?"

"_Si,_ I almost sure of it," Eduardo replied. Frankie peeked out briefly to see what was happening; Rainbow had climbed onto Eduardo's shoulder as he continued, "_You_ sure about this? Frankie seem so _scared_, maybe she not..."

"You said it yourself, _you_ found it was her," Rainbow told him, becoming a deep shade of red. "She revealed herself, yes?"

"_Si, si,_" Eduardo agreed appearing to grow angrier by the moment again. "And she try to _hurt_ me, too."

"Then you can't let this opportunity slip," Rainbow told him. "If you let her get away now, she'll only be more careful next time, and strike you down when you least expect it." Frankie was dumbfounded as she listened to the two of them speak. _Wh-what on Earth...?_ she thought. _H-he... why is he doing this? What did I do?!_ She couldn't understand why Rainbow would be telling Eduardo such things, or why Eduardo would even listen. It seemed so senseless...

With that, Rainbow started to leave; Frankie ducked back into her cover, shaking fearfully. After the sound of Rainbow's footsteps faded, the doors slammed shut, and she heard the sound of a heavy bookcase being slid, no doubt blocking off the exit. Her heart sunk as she realized there was no escape from the library anymore. Continuing to listen, she stifled a cry as she heard Eduardo moving down one of the row of bookcases, slowly and deliberately. She clenched her eyes shut, tears squeezing out from them, and waited. _Please,_ she thought, _don't find me don't find me don't find m--..._

Her eyes flew open in horror as she was pulled from her hiding place. She tried to scream, but her lungs wouldn't allow it; instead, she gave a feeble cry that wasn't even loud enough to echo through the library. The world around her spun as she felt herself begin flung against the side of a bookcase. More pain shot through her, and there was no doubt now that she had broken something. Before she could move, sharp objects pierced her at various points across her body, and she realized Eduardo had just pounced over and had grabbed her between his teeth, lifting her up. From her vantage point, she could see him glaring at her with more hatred she had ever seen before in an imaginary friend. He was going to kill her, and there was no longer anything she could do to save herself. She completely broke down, tears streaming from her face as she pleaded, "E-Ed... pl-... please... d-don't... w-what did I... do...?" She didn't receive a reply, but was violently shaken from side to side before he gave one last fling, sending her headlong into the wall, and with a final loud _crack_, her consciousness faded away...

**_To be continued… _**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6 **

Mac charged down the hall as quickly as he could. Things were getting out of hand way too fast; Wilt had obviously done something terrible under Rainbow's influence, and possibly Eduardo had as well. Worse, Rainbow himself was loose who-knows-where, possibly manipulating more of the house residents. If he was able to affect someone as good-natured as Wilt, there was no telling what else he was capable of.

Skidding to a halt, Mac stopped beside a table in the hall with a phone sitting on it. He quickly scooped up the receiver, but as he feared, there was no dial tone. _What happened?_ he thought. _Did the phones go out across the whole house?_ He replaced the receiver and carefully looked around; the darkening halls of Foster's didn't feel like a safe place to be standing anymore. It was beginning to remind him of the house he had just come from, only here there was actually a chance of some killer being right around the corner.

As scared as he was, Mac quickly came up with another idea: he had to find Frankie. She had a cell phone, so it would still be working even if the rest of the phones in the house weren't. That was probably their best chance to get in contact with the police. He ran quickly down the hall towards the stairs... _Maybe if I'm fast enough,_ he thought, _we can prevent anything else bad from happening... _

* * *

Wilt sat on the couch in the living room, his head resting in his arms on the table in front of him; his good eye was clenched shut, fighting a losing battle against the tears they wanted to shed. He barely noticed as Bloo entered the room and moved over to the side of the couch. Cautiously, Bloo asked, "Wilt... are you... i-is everything okay?"

Not lifting his head, he said, "What do you think? No, I'm _not_ okay, and _it's_ not okay. I don't... I can't just..." He hesitated for a few seconds before continuing, "Do you... do you have any idea... what I've done?"

"I... I have an idea..." Bloo replied, feeling more and more unsteady with the circumstances.

Wilt rolled his head sideways to look out from above his arms, "Bloo... Eurotrish is dead. She's dead, and it's my fault..." As Bloo listened to him, Wilt let his gaze drop and continued, "I'll never forgive myself for it... How could I be so _stupid?_ Rainbow... h-he was using me the whole time, and... and I _believed_ him..."

Bloo shook his head and said, "You're not the only one. He fooled us, and that's why we can't let him get away with..."

"I'm may not be the only one," Wilt interrupted, "but I still did terrible things."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," Bloo said. Wilt was about to say something back, but Bloo continued, "Wilt, you're the last person I'd ever think would hurt _anyone._ You're like, the nicest guy in the whole world! So whoever did that, it _wasn't_ you. It was someone else that took you over, and you were somewhere else while it was happening. That other someone was just a puppet of Rainbow. It's... it's like the mutants in that movie, Invasion of the Zombie Brain Mutants, who used their mutant brainwaves to turn people to zombies!"

Wilt looked annoyed for a moment that Bloo was comparing his horrible deed with something so trivial, but there was some truth in it. He stared at the ground silently, considering what Bloo said, and finally said, "You're right, of course. That wasn't me... that _couldn't_ be me..."

"There, you see?" Bloo said.

"But," Wilt added, "what if that person is still inside me somewhere? How can I be sure it never happens again? How do I know the people around me will ever really be safe?"

"Well, it was Rainbow who made this 'other you' appear," Bloo told him. "So, if Rainbow is stopped, you're safe. It's so simple!" He scratched his chin, "Now... how were the zombie brain mutants stopped...?"

Wilt got to his feet and said, "Nevermind that, we need to find him fast and put an end to this! You're absolutely right. Without Rainbow, it'll never happen again!" Grabbing Bloo by the arm, he yanked him off his feet and started jogging off deeper into the house. Bloo clung on tightly in surprise, but then smiled; if nothing else, at least Wilt was back on their side, but they still had to find Rainbow...

* * *

Eduardo sat huddled in the corner of the room, opposite from his bed, and stared blankly ahead of him. Rainbow was perched atop his head, his color an odd mix of green and yellow; he gazed down at Eduardo and asked, "What's wrong, Ed? You can tell me."

"I... I dunno..." Eduardo said, rather more softly than he usually spoke. "I... I am feeling better... but..."

"You got rid of the one who was following you," Rainbow nodded. "Are you not free?"

"_Si_, I should be, but..." Eduardo huddled a little tighter to himself, "...why am I afraid? I have no more to fear, but I... I still afraid..."

Rainbow leaned over from his perch, looking upside down at Eduardo eye-to-eye. "Of _course_ you're afraid," he said, the yellow shade in his color intensifying slightly. "It's because you know. You can sense it, can't you? There are others."

"Th-... there... a-are?" Eduardo stammered.

"Certainly," Rainbow replied while turning a solid yellow, though he himself did not look afraid. "They are many, and they are everywhere. They surround and torment you. They want you dead... dead, or you mind destroyed. Or perhaps both. They hide in the dark shadows to strike at you when you least expect. They meet you in the open light to gain your trust. Light and shadow... neither are safe for you any longer..."

Eduardo was trembling at the thought of multiple assailants watching his every move. Just when he thought it was safe, that he had removed the threat to his life, it was only the beginning. His resolve faded, and his voice was barely a whisper as he asked, "H-how do... do you... kn-know all this?"

Rainbow grinned, "My friend, I know much. I have a keen eye, and I can spot them for you. But you have to trust me. I can help you to be safe. Do you trust me?" His color shifted towards green, and Eduardo's panic faded, filled with a sense of mild security. The large friend knew deep within that Rainbow was telling the truth, and that they would be safer together.

Eduardo gave a small nod and asked, "Why you helping me? You barely know me..."

"Because," Rainbow explained, "they're after _me_ now too. I can help you find who they are, but I need your help to keep me safe, to protect me since I cannot protect myself. Between the two of us, we can survive. Do you agree?" Eduardo nodded again, and the tiny friend said, "Good. Now, before we can find a safe place to escape, there's something else we need to do, to make sure _none_ of them follow us. Here's what we'll do..."

* * *

Mac emerged from the stairwell and jogged in the direction of Frankie's room. As he did; however, he noticed something odd, even in the dim light of the hallway. A painting hung askew on the wall, something Herriman would never have allowed, which means it happened recently. He slowed down and examined it... _That's really weird,_ he thought. _I wonder how it could have happened, especially given how quiet it is out here..._

His eyes spotted something else on the ground, and he held his breath as he realized they were drops of blood. They were collected just beneath the painting, but continued off down the hall in lighter drips; someone was injured, and had stopped here, probably leaning up against the wall and bumping the painting before continuing on.

Even though he was afraid of what he might find, he followed the trail of blood anyway; if someone was hurt, he had to help them if he could. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his breath was quickening as he made several turns down the hall, the bloody trail beckoning him onward...

He came to the doors of the library, which were wide open, yet another unusual sight. It was dark inside, but he went in anyway, pulling his penlight out of his pocket and shining it around. Things were in disarray; it definitely looked like a struggle took place here. Worse, he saw even more blood, in bigger splats than before. _Did Wilt do this?_ he wondered. _Who was hurt? I hope they got away..._

As he swung the light around, he spotted something up against the wall that caused him to cry out in shock, dropping the penlight to the ground. His heart was going double-time now as he reached down with a trembling hand to pick the light back up, hoping he didn't see what he had just seen. Raising the light again, his vision was unfortunately confirmed: it was Frankie, slumped up against a wall, with several large, bleeding gashes across her torso. Her limbs were twisted at odd angles, and her head was rolled to one side, eyes closed and mouth open as if in a silent scream. She wasn't moving, and blood was slowly pooling around her body.

Mac was horrified; the gruesome sight made him sick, but he couldn't look away. He shouted, "Frankie!!" and rushed over, thinking, _She's dead... she's dead... oh man, what do I do?!_ He stopped by her side and gingerly reached out her hand, touching her shoulder and giving it a light shake, then a heavier one, to try and get a response, but none came.

As Mac fought his rising panic and his eyes began to fill with tears, he heard a faint sound. It was a very soft moan; with a mixture of surprise and relief, he realized it was coming from Frankie. Gripping her shoulder again and shaking it harder, he exclaimed, "F-Frankie! Wake up!" He saw some gradual movement in her eyes, and he thought, _Oh thank goodness, she's alive! But she's badly hurt; I've gotta do something!_

Looking around to one side of her, he reached into her jacket pocket and found her cell phone, miraculously undamaged despite the beating that she took. The battery level was very low, but it probably had enough for a call or two. He hesitated before dialing, trying to decide whether to call the police or an ambulance. _Both, you idiot!_ he thought. Without further delay, he fished the paper with the phone number out of his pocket again and quickly dialed it.

A voice picked up, "Edwards."

Mac began speaking rapidly, "Officer Edwards, this is Mac, from Foster's! You gotta get over here right away, it's an emergency! And we need an ambulance, too; someone's been..."

"Slow down, son," Edwards replied. "Are you at the house still?"

"No, I'm back at Foster's," Mac told him. "Listen... Rainbow wasn't the kid's imaginary friend, he was the _killer's!_"

Edwards exclaimed, "What?!"

"We found a diary at the place that belonged to the killer, and it mentions Rainbow! And also, I think Rainbow was _making_ him kill people... he has some kind of ability to change how people feel, and he was pushing Kevin into a murderous rage! And now, I think he's doing it again here!"

"I see," Edwards said. "You said you needed an ambulance; is someone hurt?"

Mac glanced back at Frankie, who was still unconscious, and said, "Yes, very badly; I found her in the library, and we're both still here. Please, get here quickly!"

Edwards replied firmly, "We're on our way. In the meantime, find someplace safe, or find an adult for protection. Do not under any circumstances go looking for Rainbow. Got it?"

"Got it," Mac replied, and hung up. He looked at Frankie again, then around the library; it certainly didn't feel safe here, but he couldn't risk moving Frankie right now, and he didn't want to leave her alone. Officer Edwards knew where they were now; he could just sit tight until help arrived. He went over and closed the library doors to try and make things a little more secure. Then, sitting down next to Frankie, he hugged his knees to his chest, trying to calm himself down. _They're coming,_ he thought. _They'll be here soon, and they'll help Frankie and arrest Rainbow, and then everything will be back to normal... _

* * *

Wilt carefully opened the door leading into Rainbow's room and stepped inside. Bloo followed behind him, glancing around to see if Rainbow was anywhere in the room, though it was difficult to be sure because of how small he was. He remarked, "Man, why did they give him such a nice room?"

"Shhh!" Wilt said. "He could still be in here hiding. Look for him, okay?" He started going through the drawers in the room, and Bloo wandered over to the bed to check underneath it. There was no sign of the tiny friend, but he noticed a stack of papers and slid them out. They looked like various crayon drawings; he examined them as Wilt looked over, asking, "What've you got there?"

"Whoa..." Bloo said under his breath. The pictures included various sketches of house residents, with special attention to Wilt and Eduardo, who were in most of them. There was a drawing of Eurotrish with a large X drawn through her, and another of Mr. Herriman with the same X; both of them had Wilt and Rainbow in the picture. Another had a drawing of Frankie and Eduardo, with a large X through... "Oh my gosh!" Bloo exclaimed, staring in disbelief at the drawing.

"What? What is it?" Wilt asked.

"Rainbow is such a horrible artist!" Bloo remarked. "This doesn't look _anything_ like Frankie. See?" He held it up for Wilt to see.

Wilt reached over, taking the paper and examining it. "Wha... Ed? And Frankie?!" he said in shock, nearly dropping it. "Bloo, I think Rainbow's controlling Ed! And they're going after Frankie! Quick, what else did you find?"

Bloo quickly stared to shuffle through the drawings... a lot of them were just Rainbow and a kid, who was probably Kevin, but as he got deeper in the stack, some of them got more disturbing. There was a drawing of several unidentified people lying in pools of blood, and another of a body that had been dismembered. In practically all of these drawings were the occasional, completely normal detail of a sunny landscape or flower, and one of them had a sailboat. Wilt was stunned by the contrast between them, the way such simple and pleasant images could be mixed casually with such gruesome ones. Rainbow was definitely insane; the sight of these illustrated representations of his fractured psyche made Wilt upset that any imaginary friend could be this way. He felt hatred rising in him, hatred towards that little...

Wilt gripped his head with his hand... _Hate? No, I don't hate, that's not me... that's Rainbow's feelings, not mine! Stop it!_ He cringed, trying to drive those thoughts out of his head. It was terrifying to experience such alien thoughts and ideas.

Bloo gasped as he came to the last drawing n the stack. It was a rather crude drawing of Foster's, with giant red flames erupting from the roof and out several of the windows. Off to the side were tiny drawings of Wilt, Eduardo and Rainbow fleeing the scene with big smiles on their faces. Bloo and Wilt looked at each other in horror, and then dropped the drawings as they rushed out of Rainbow's room, hoping they could find and stop them in time...

* * *

Mac paced nervously. He didn't know what else he should do, but officer Edwards told him to stay put so that's was his only option. He hoped they would get here quickly; the shadows of the library seemed to be getting even darker than before, as if concealing a hundred terrors around them. At any moment, he expected Rainbow to emerge from one of them, or anyone else that he was controlling. That thought alone frightened him more than any other. Rainbow could have worked his madness onto any number of the house residents; any one of them could be a threat. _Except Bloo,_ he told himself... _Bloo was with me and couldn't have been affected. I can trust him, and hopefully Wilt too now. But who else...?_

He thought hard, holding his hand over his forehead. Eduardo was the only other one acting unusual, so he was likely one of them as well. He hoped not; the last thing they needed was for Eduardo to go crazy on them. He was definitely among one of the strongest friends in the house, but when he was freaked out, his strength seemed to skyrocket. The destruction he could be capable of...

With a start, Mac shined his light around the library suddenly to get a look at the damage. The initial struggle took place in one spot; he shined his light over at Frankie, who was quite a ways from were she had started. It looked like whoever attacked Frankie must have thrown her a fairly good distance. Not many friends would be capable of a feat like that. And the wounds on Frankie's body... teeth marks, perhaps? They would have to have been very large teeth if they were, and they were spaced about the right distance.

The clues all seemed to add up; there was little doubt left that Eduardo had been Frankie's attacker_. That explains why she's still alive,_ Mac thought... _Ed's not all that bright—lucky for her—and probably didn't check to make sure. Oh my gosh, I hope he hasn't hurt anyone else... maybe he's doing that right now! I've gotta... no, no, I need to wait here. Help is coming... _

Still, he couldn't get the images out of his head of Eduardo and Rainbow attacking the other friends. What if he gets to Bloo? What if Bloo doesn't figure out that Ed's being controlled? What if he was being attacked right now? What if he gets killed? Mac wanted desperately to go and find him, but he couldn't just leave Frankie behind because something could happen to her. He didn't know what to do; he was so confused. All he could do was hope Bloo could take care of himself...

At that moment, he heard a commotion from out in the hall, some heavy footfalls which he quickly recognized as Eduardo's. Mac covered his mouth to keep himself quiet. _A-are they coming back?! _Mac thought... _I've gotta hide before... _His panic quickly turned into relief when the sounds continued past the library door. There were voices speaking softly; cautiously approaching the door, he listened to them...

"...the garage," said one of the voices, which he recognized as Rainbow's, even though it was speaking in a lower tone than before. "The bus will have some gas we can siphon. We won't need much; the whole house is probably a big firetrap anyway."

"_Si_," Eduardo replied. "But the doors..."

Rainbow interrupted, "Don't worry. They won't get out... we'll just have to block the doors from the outside with..." The voices got fainter as they went further down the hall, until they were far too faint to make out. Even though Mac had already figured out Ed was being controlled, he was still shocked to discover his suspicions were true. The bit that he overheard also chilled him; were they planning on burning down the house?

_No, they won't, _he thought... _The police are on their way to stop them. They'd never get all the preparation done before help arrives._ Still, Mac had his doubts, and then another horrifying thought occurred to him: if they did manage to start the fire before the cops got here, they'd still have to wait for the fire department to arrive to put it out, and that could be too late!

_Maybe I could get the fire department to start on their way here,_ he thought. He pulled out Frankie's cell phone again, but his heart sank as he saw the 'LOW BATT' flashing onscreen, moments before it turned off entirely. Frustrated, he dropped the phone and headed for the door to leave the library. He had no choice now; if he didn't do something, more lives would be lost, and he couldn't allow that. He gave one last look at Frankie, prayed she would be okay until he got back, and left the library...

**_To be continued… _**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7 **

Eduardo descended the steps leading into the foyer, his eyes darting continuously to every shadow of the house. Rainbow, still perched on top of his head, told him reassuringly, "Don't worry, Ed; I'm watching for danger. It won't be much longer before there won't be any shadows left. You'll be safe... safe and sound, with me to help you."

"_Si... si..._" Eduardo replied, though he found it difficult to ignore the feeling of malice emanating from the surroundings. "B-but I..."

"But nothing," Rainbow interrupted. "This house is full of darkness, and it is up to us to purge it from the world. Our flames of righteousness will bring light to the darkness and cleanse this den of evil once and for all..."

"But the f-friends..." Eduardo protested weakly.

Rainbow flared red, and growled, "They are _no_ friends of yours! They _deserve_ this fate! They have created it for themselves, by merely being who they are! You mustn't fail, or it will be your end, and the end of countless others to whom they might spread their evil!"

Eduardo hadn't considered that he wasn't the only one in danger. At the thought of other people being in jeopardy, his resolve steeled; protecting others was, after all, the whole reason he was imagined in the first place. "_Si,_" he said firmly, "I protect them. I not fail."

They entered the foyer and started towards the front door, when a voice behind them called out, "Not so fast!" Eduardo spun around in an instant to face the source; it had come from Bloo, who was at the top of the steps with Wilt. "You're not going anywhere," Bloo continued as they descended to the bottom of the steps. "We know your game, and it's game over!"

Rainbow narrowed his large gray eyes, focusing directly on Wilt. The tall friend looked upset and glared back initially with determination, but as his gaze locked with Rainbow's, doubts began creeping into his mind. Rainbow looked at him for another moment, then shook his head and said, "Wilt... I can't believe you did it again."

"Did what?" Wilt asked, confused.

"You let them control you," Rainbow told him. "Bloo obviously talked you into turning against me, didn't he? I can't believe you'd give into their words so quickly and let them push you around. Don't you see that they're just using you again?"

"That's... that's not true," Wilt responded, with confidence he didn't really feel. "I trust... I mean... they're my..."

"They're no friends," Rainbow affirmed. "Look at Bloo. He's manipulated you _plenty_ of times, and this is no exception." He looked down at Eduardo, "But _you_ don't push him around, Ed, do you?"

"No, never," Eduardo agreed.

Rainbow looked back at Wilt and said, "See? You can trust _us_. We don't take advantage of you. We're not at all like them. And yet, you side with them? They're using you, and you just let it happen, again and again. You've got no willpower; it's almost as if you _want_ to be a puppet. Please, Wilt… come with us, where you will be treated with the respect you deserve." His eyes widened sadly, "_Please_."

"I... wait..." Wilt said, then shook his head and exclaimed, "No, stop it! _You're_ the one making me a puppet, not them! They _care_ about me! Sure, I give in more than I should, but they're my _friends!_" He looked at Eduardo and added, "Ed, you can't listen to him; he's not..."

Before Eduardo could say anything, Rainbow said, "Ed, did you hear him? He's one of _them_ now! They got to him too! What did I tell you? They're even turning your best friend against you..." His color changed briefly to blue as he said this. Eduardo looked at Wilt, his face showing a deeply hurt expression, but his expression quickly turned to anger as the tiny friend's color shifted back to red.

"Ed," Wilt said carefully, "c-calm down... we're not..." He didn't get to complete what he was saying, because Eduardo growled loudly and charged at them. Wilt quickly grabbed Bloo and jumped to one side, and Eduardo skidded to a halt before hitting the stairs, changing direction to begin his charge again. Wilt cringed, thinking, _Ed's not listening... he's probably too far under Rainbow's control! This is insane... I can't fight him, he's way too strong! At least I'm more agile, but I've gotta free up my good arm... _ Reaching up, he placed Bloo on top of his head, and then leaped up and out of Eduardo's way. With his now-free arm, he grabbed hold of a chandelier in mid-leap, hanging just out of reach.

Eduardo stopped underneath him, glaring up for a few moments before turning to the nearest wall and lowering his head. He rammed into it, causing a brief tremor that shook the walls and caused the chandelier to sway. Wilt lost his grip and dropped back to the ground; he landed on his feet, but now Eduardo began charging again, and this time he wouldn't be able to dodge. Before he could get any good speed behind the charge, however, Wilt reached out and grabbed one of his horns, pushing hard and bringing him to a stop. Eduardo gritted his teeth and pushed back harder, slowly overpowering Wilt and edging him back, inch by inch, towards the wall. If Eduardo managed to pin him there, it would be all over...

From his position on Wilt's head, Bloo looked down and saw Rainbow still on top of Eduardo's head, watching the struggle with amusement. Bloo exclaimed, "Wilt, I've got an idea! Don't let go just yet!"

"All right..." Wilt grunted, exerting all his strength, "...but... h-hurry..."

Bloo nodded and hopped off of his head, landing on his arm and sliding down its length until he reached Eduardo's horn. Rainbow noticed Bloo's approach too late and only had time to blink in surprise before Bloo tackled him, the leap carrying both of them off Eduardo's head and tumbling to the floor. They rolled into the side of an end table, and a glass vase sitting on the table fell to the ground, shattering. The sound alerted Eduardo, distracting him as he shouted, "_Señior_ Rainbow!" It was the opening Wilt needed, and he twisted Eduardo's horn to one side, toppling him off his feet and to the ground.

Bloo and Rainbow rolled around for a few moments, but Bloo finally got back to his feet, holding the struggling friend in his hands. "Ha!" he said victoriously. "Once again, the day is saved, thanks to Blooreguard Q. Kaz--" His declaration was cut short as Rainbow bit his hand; with a yelp, he let go, and Rainbow landed on the ground, quickly backing up a few steps. He scooped up one of the shards of broken glass from the vase and, with a cry of anger, launched himself back at Bloo.

Wilt, in the meantime, tried to pin Eduardo to keep him from getting back up, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to do much more than slow him down. More importantly, though, this was his chance to talk some sense into him while he and Rainbow were separated. "Ed, listen... Rainbow's been lying to you! He's been lying to _all_ of us!"

"No!" Eduardo replied, trying to get free. "Rainbow is _bueno_, he help me find the people who are after me..."

Wilt shook his head, not releasing his grip, "He's trying to get you to kill for him! He tricks you into thinking you're angry and makes..."

"No, stop it! You are wrong, I really _am_ angry!" Eduardo insisted.

"It's not real," Wilt told him. "Do you see how he changes colors? When he does that, he makes other people feel what he's feeling! When _he_ hates, _you_ hate; none of it is real! He did that with his own kid, and that kid grew up to be a serial killer! He's trying the same with us!"

"I... but I..." Eduardo stammered, "...but I so s-sure that..."

"Ed," Wilt said, "think about it. You're a kind, gentle friend. You wouldn't hurt anyone any more than... than _I_ would." He swallowed, and then continued, "I know what it's like, trust me. Hatred is a scary thing, and I could _never_ hate anyone at the house, but Rainbow made me feel it, made me do terrible things with it. I realized what happened and broke free from his control, and _you_ need to as well."

Eduardo paused to consider, no longer resisting. "But I..." he finally said, "...but I still scared..."

"You have to trust me, Ed," Wilt said. "Please." Deciding to show his trust first, he released Eduardo and stood back; Eduardo climbed back to his feet and looked up at Wilt, his face a mix of emotions, and Wilt knew exactly what was going through his mind. After a few moments of silence, Eduardo broke down and burst out crying; Wilt laid his hand on his back comfortingly and said, "It's okay... it's okay, Ed..."

Between sobs, Eduardo shook his head, "No... no, it not okay.. _señiorita_ Frankie, I... I..."

"Somebody help me!" Bloo cried out, interrupting Eduardo. They looked over at him to find Bloo lying face-down with Rainbow on his back; the tiny friend somehow managed to keep both of Bloo's arms pinned, while at the same time, he had the pointy end of his glass shard pressed up against the back of Bloo's head. His color was bright red, and he gritted his teeth in anger.

"Bloo!" Wilt exclaimed, and started to run over until Rainbow pressed the shard a little harder. Bloo yelped, and a tiny trickle of blood ran down from the puncture. Wilt quickly halted his advance and said, "Let him go, Rainbow!"

"No," Rainbow said angrily, "and if you take another step... I'll kill him." He tightened his grip on the shard, showing that he was both willing and able to do so. "Back away. _Now!_"

Bloo shouted hysterically, "Do as he says, _do as he says!_" Wilt and Eduardo both took a few slow steps back as Rainbow moved further up to the top of Bloo's head, freeing his arms but keeping the shard positioned where it was. With a nudge, Rainbow motioned towards the front door of Foster's; Bloo stood up and started walking towards it obediently.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps quickly descended the main staircase, and Mac came into view. He stopped at the landing and cried out in surprise once he saw what was going on, "Bloo! Rainbow, no, stop it! Leave him alone!"

"_Shut up!_" Rainbow growled. "We're leaving here now, and you're not going to stop us. Not _you_ or _anyone_ else!" Bloo had stopped moving towards the door when Mac arrived, but a quick prod from the shard urged him to continue.

Mac descended the steps rapidly and stopped next to Wilt. "Rainbow, why are you doing all this? What did any of us ever do to you?"

Rainbow stared back, his face full of hatred, "It's not what _you_ did to me. It's what you do to each _other_. The world is not a nice place, and I can see it in every person. There's no genuine compassion; everyone either cares only for themselves or is a footstool for those that do. That's no way to live."

"But there are good people," Mac protested. "You can't just judge everyone li—..."

"I _can_, and I _will_," Rainbow interrupted. "I have that right. That's why I was created, after all: to stop people from being who they essentially are. I tried the nice way, but it didn't work, so if I have to force them to kill each other to do it, then so be it."

Mac came to a realization, and Wilt must have been thinking the same thing, because he said, "Something happened to change your mind, didn't it? What was it?"

Rainbow's eyes lowered slightly as he thought, but then he snapped them back to attention, giving them a suspicious look. "You're stalling me," he remarked. "We're getting out of here, now."

"You're not going to make it out of here," Mac said. "I called the police, and they're on their way at this very moment."

Bloo said, "Atta boy, Ma—_aah!_" but got cut off as Rainbow prodded him again. _The police are coming, _Mac thought, but _with a hostage, maybe they won't be able to do anything after all..._ He also didn't hear any sirens yet; if Rainbow got out now, he was so small that the police would probably never find him. Mac looked up at Wilt and Eduardo, who looked back with defeated expressions; they didn't have any ideas either.

Bloo gingerly reached up and grasped the door handle, while Rainbow kept his eyes on the others, glaring intensely. With a creak, Bloo pushed the door open, and his eyes widened; there was someone on the other side already, and Rainbow had not yet noticed. A hand quickly reached through the doorway and grasped Rainbow, yanking him off of Bloo's head and causing the glass shard to drop free to the ground. Bloo immediately ran back to join the others, covering the wound on his head with one hand. Rainbow was surprised by the sudden move, and looked up to see who it was.

The hand belonged to Mr. Herriman, who stood in a somewhat disheveled state within the door frame. His clothes were tattered and his monocle was missing, but he also had numerous small cuts that covered him, including a large, bleeding wound on the side of his head. He was furious, and said, "You're not going _anywhere_, Master Rainbow, except to the proper authorities!"

"Mr. Herriman! You're _alive!_" Mac exclaimed.

"W-we saw you office," Bloo told him, "and we thought..."

Wilt looked very uncomfortable, and said, "No, he's okay. When I... when I attacked him, he jumped through the window to get away..." He turned his head away and said, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Herriman, I-I was... I didn't mean..."

"Quite all right, Master Wilt," Mr. Herriman replied, flexing his large ears for a moment. "I overheard everything from outside, and I know it wasn't your fault." With a glance down at the struggling friend, he added, "We have the culprit now, so no harm done. Nothing permanent, anyway."

"No," Eduardo said, shaking his head, "No, I did something terrible..."

"Ed, Frankie's alive too," Mac interrupted; to which Eduardo's expression brightened. "She's hurt real bad, though; when the ambulance gets here, they need to get to the library right away!"

From where he was being held, Rainbow narrowed his eyes at Wilt and Eduardo, and he hissed, "So _she_ also survived... you two can't do _anything_ right..."

"That's enough out of you," Mr. Herriman snapped. "If I were a less-civilized person, I would exact my revenge against you now, but I will be satisfied once the police arri--..."

A groggy voice interrupted, " Coco...?" Looking behind them, the others saw Coco standing at the foot of the staircase. She looked like she had just woken up; rubbing her eye with one of her feet, she squinted and asked, "Co cococococo coco?"

Before anyone could answer, Rainbow took advantage of the distraction. He pried Mr. Herriman's fingers open and leapt from his hand, the jump carrying him to Mac. He landed on the boy's head and jumped again, going directly for Coco. Mac was startled, but managed to yell, "_Look out!_"

"Co?" Coco replied, still not fully alert. In the next moment, Rainbow landed squarely on her back. Coco peered at him in surprise, still unaware of what was going on.

In a flash; Rainbow turned yellow and shouted, "They're after us! Run away, _run away!_" Coco squawked loudly in fear, and the sudden shock caused her to lay an egg. The shell split open, releasing a flash of bright light, like a flash bang grenade, blinding everyone in the room. As they rubbed their eyes and their vision returned, Coco and Rainbow were nowhere to be seen.

Wilt looked around and said, "Oh no! We've gotta _catch_ them!"

"_Si,_" Eduardo agreed, "but which way?"

"I don't know, but it'll have to be someplace where they can be alone," Mac suggested. " Coco doesn't know what's going on, so she'll be easy to control."

" Coco?" Bloo asked. "_Easy_ to control?"

Mac frowned, "You know what I mean! We got Wilt and Eduardo free from his control, but if he manages to manipulate Coco, who knows _how_ we're going to get her free!" He looked at the others, "We'll have to search. Who's going?"

"I will stay here," Mr. Herriman declared, "and direct the police once they arrive. And, to make sure the culprit does now attempt to escape this way."

"You shouldn't do that alone," Mac said, noting the rabbit's injuries. "Ed, you stay with him, all right?"

Eduardo nodded, "_Si_... and, _gracias_."

Mac smiled briefly, then said, "Wilt, go on ahead and check the first floor. Bloo and I will check upstairs; you can catch up to us when you're done."

"Got it," Wilt said, and jogged off in the direction of one of the hallways. Mac and Bloo started up the stairs, while Mr. Herriman and Eduardo stood guard next to the door.

As they went upstairs, Mac noticed Bloo holding the back of his head, and gasped when he saw blood coming from around it. "Bloo," he exclaimed, "are you still hurt?!"

Bloo replied, "Yes, but... but not as bad as I could've been." He looked over at Mac with a very unsure expression and said, "You sure it's a good idea to go after Rainbow by ourselves? Mac, we could get _killed..._"

"I know that..." Mac said, still fighting back his own panic. "But do you want the same thing to happen to Coco? Or anyone else? You didn't see Frankie's condition; you don't know what he's capable of making other people do... We can't let Rainbow keep doing this, not to our friends."

"You're... you're right of course..." Bloo admitted. "Can we at least stop for a bandage first?"

"Sure, buddy," Mac said with a smile. He had to admit, even though their lives were in danger he felt safer with Bloo nearby, and he was so relieved when Bloo made it out of the prior situation alive. For a moment, he envisioned losing his best friend right in front of his eyes, and the thought scared him; he was glad he wouldn't have to experience that.

_Not yet, anyway,_ Mac thought. _As long as Rainbow runs free, anything can happen... _

As they reached the top of the steps, they heard a faint sound in the distance. Pausing to listen, Mac recognized it as Coco's voice. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Perfect! I knew Coco isn't the most subtle imaginary friend in the world. We'll be able to find them easily, c'mon!" He grabbed Bloo's arm and yanked him off his feet, running in the direction of Coco's voice.

"What's the plan?" Bloo asked as they ran.

"We'll take them by surprise," Mac said. "Then, we try to explain everything to Coco. If nothing else, it'll at least be good to stall for time until Wilt gets back up here, or the police arrive."

Bloo agreed, "Sounds good, but what if they try to fight us?"

"Hopefully, it won't come to that," Mac replied. "But if it does, we've gotta be ready. We can do it if we work together."

"Right!" Bloo said emphatically.

Eventually, after running up another flight of stairs, they came to one of the tea rooms. The door was ajar and the lights were out, but they heard Coco inside, saying in a more hushed tone now, "Co coco cococo co coco." Mac held a finger over his lips, indicating that they should be quiet, and the two of them snuck carefully into the room. It was too dark to see anything, but Mac reached for the light switch slowly. Bloo nodded and readied himself.

Mac turned on the lights, and Bloo shouted, "_Found you!_" As the room lit up, though, they realized that they were alone in the room, even though they could still hear Coco's voice. Curiously, Bloo looked around and found a tape recorder on the ground with an open yellow plastic eggshell near it. The tape was playing a recording of Coco's voice. Bloo stared at it and said, "What the...?"

_She's not here,_ Mac thought in horror... _It's a trap!_ He turned to Bloo and was about to say something, but then he spotted something on the floor near Bloo: another plastic egg, this one purple. The shell burst open, releasing a cloud of what was probably knockout gas into the air. Both of them coughed and tried to make it to the door, but they weren't quick enough; they collapsed to the ground, and just before Mac lost consciousness, he saw the outline of Coco and Rainbow standing out in the hallway...

**_To be continued… _**


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8 **

Mac woke up gradually, disoriented and trying to open his eyes. He was cold, though a moment later he realized it was just a cool breeze he was feeling. Slowly opening his eyes, he blinked a few times and tried to take in his surroundings, but he was still groggy and disoriented. He went to wipe his eyes in order to clear them and became aware that his arms were tied behind his back. He shook his head quickly to clear it, and then remembered what had happened. They had fallen into a trap, him and...

"...Bloo..." he managed to say, still groggy. "Where are..."

"Behind you," came the reply in a hushed tone. Mac still couldn't see clearly, but he looked back over his shoulder and caught sight of Bloo, who was also tied up and was back-to-back with him. "Mac," he continued, still whispering, "We're in a lot of trouble... We need to find a way out of here before they get back..."

"W-... where are... " Mac began; his eyesight, blurry as it was, came back into focus little by little until he was able to discern their surroundings. They had been taken up to the Foster's roof; it was dark, except for the moonlight coming from above, and a little light coming up from the streetlamps below. The cool breeze he felt before was gently washing over the two of them. _Why'd they take us up here?_ Mac wondered. _There's nothing here, it's a dead end..._

The door slammed open and Coco walked out onto the roof, carrying Rainbow on her back. Her expression looked very upset as she glared at the captives. Who knows what Rainbow's been telling her? Mac thought. She's probably completely under his control though. As he watched, she began squatting down and laying her usual plastic eggs, Rainbow hopped off her back and opened one of the eggs, apparently looking for something. A pile of paperclips fell out of the first one, and he moved onto the next.

"What are you doing?" Mac demanded, while Bloo struggled behind him to see. "Everyone knows you're the one behind all this. The police know, and they'll be here any second. You're not going to get away..."

"That's what you think," Rainbow told him. He tossed the second eggshell aside, and the 2-litre bottle of soda it contained rolled away across the roof. He opened the third egg, which held a monkey wrench, and considered for a moment before moving on to the next egg. "I realize that everyone is after me," he continued, "but that's why I came up to the roof. It's part of my escape."

"How?" Bloo asked. "There's nowhere to go!"

"Nowhere but over the edge," Rainbow reminded them. He opened the fourth egg and discarded the contents, which looked like a bunch of frozen fish sticks. Whatever he was looking for, Mac knew it was only a matter of time; Coco had an uncanny knack for laying eggs containing exactly what one was looking for, even if they were laid before it was needed.

"Listen," Mac said. "Rainbow. You've gotta _stop_ this. Tell us what's wrong, and maybe we can help you."

Rainbow split open the fifth egg, and he smiled at the contents. He said, "Help? You don't know what help _is._ I tried it myself, I really did. But nobody listens to sincerity. You only get hurt because of it. You, and the ones you try and protect."

_There it is again,_ Mac thought. He said carefully, "Something happened to you, and I want to know what. Please, tell me what happened. I want to know."

Reaching into the open eggshell, Rainbow withdrew a very sharp-looking knife. It was actually taller than he was, but he lifted it with no problems, inspecting the blade carefully. With horror, Mac realized what he intended to do with it. Even so, Rainbow said, "All right. If you _must_ know, Kevin's parents were bitter and unlikable husks of human beings. They fought, they yelled, they cared about nothing but themselves. It was torturous for the boy, and that was why he created me: to put an end to their bickering once and for all."

"I-I see..." Mac replied, starting to get very scared and finding it hard to take his eyes off the knife.

"Now," he said, walking over to them, "to be fair, I tried it the nice way. Kevin brought me to them, and I talked to them both. I gave a stirring speech, augmented by my own aura of happiness. I told them things that should have rekindled their love and rebuilt the family once again. But they were _not_ affected in the slightest; they did _not_ change. Instead, they were angry with me. Angry with Kevin, for 'sticking his nose where it didn't belong'. They punished him severely. And me... I was thrown into an old, rusted cage and put away in a closet. I was there for weeks... no food, no water..."

Bloo remembered a time when he had also been treated like an animal by a so-called talent scout, and said, "That... that's _terrible..._"

Rainbow nodded, and continued, "But Kevin... he always watched out for me. Though he couldn't unlock the cage or move it without being seen, Kevin snuck into the closet whenever he could to bring me water and bread. I would've starved to death were it not for him. I would've starved, and his parents wouldn't have had _any_ remorse over it. It was a sad and lonely existence, but it made me all the happier to see him. It wouldn't last, however; eventually, he got caught. My boy got the beating of his life... but that was nothing compared to what they tried to do to me..."

* * *

"No, let him go!" Kevin yelled, struggling to break free from his father's firm grip on his shoulders. The boy had a black eye and was covered with bruises, and watched with his one good eye as his mother walked to the edge of the old stone bridge. Rainbow was gripping the bars inside the old cage she was carrying, his skin a bright yellow color and his gray eyes as wide as they could go. Kevin continued to struggle and said, "_Look_ at him; he's scared to death! Don't..." 

"Shut up, boy!" his father shouted angrily. "Yer punishment fer this ain't over by far. I knew it was a bad idea t' keep that thing 'round, 'n I was right."

Tears were running down Kevin's face as he pleaded, "Please, mom! Y-you _can't..._ it's m-murder..."

Rainbow nodded rapidly, "J-just let me go... I'll leave and n-never come back, I-I swear..." Kevin's mother didn't say a word in response; she just looked down at Rainbow with utter revulsion, the way she might have looked at a mangy rat. She held the cage out over the side of the bridge, the rushing waters of the river running beneath them. Rainbow looked down at the water, shaking fearfully, and then clenched his eyes shut.

Before the cage could be dropped, Kevin noticed Rainbow's color changing again. The yellow faded, replaced by a deep red. Kevin had never seen him turn this color before and watched with a mixture of curiosity and concern. His mother hesitated, noticing the change as well, and watched Rainbow apprehensively. In the next moment, the tiny friend's eyes flew open, and he glared at her intensely through the bars, growling, "_I'LL KILL YOU!!_"

The sudden outburst and change in demeanor took them by surprise. In that instant, Kevin pulled free from his father's loosened grasp, and he ran over, grabbing the cage and shoving his mother aside. She lost her footing and toppled over the edge, but grabbed onto an outcropping of rock at the bottom edge of the bridge. His father blanched and ran to the side, leaning way over and trying to reach her, though it was a bit too far. Kevin, in the meantime, smashed the cage door against the bridge a few times until it broke open. Rainbow, still red, hopped out of the cage and onto Kevin's shoulder.

"Good work, Kevin," Rainbow told him. "Now... finish it."

Kevin was shocked and replied, "W-what?"

Rainbow indicated his parents, his father still trying to reach his mother, and said, "Now's your chance. We've tried _everything..._ they _had_ their chance already. How do you feel about them _now?_" Kevin didn't answer, but he felt flooded with hatred, and he knew Rainbow was right. He also knew it would be so simple... one push, and it would be over. The tiny friend spoke with amazing ferocity for his size and yelled, "You can do it! Bring this to an end, _now! DO IT!_"

* * *

Mac listened to the story, feeling sick to his stomach, though he couldn't tell if it was because of the way Kevin's parents were, or Rainbow's solution to the problem. He could definitely understand how Rainbow could have so much hatred, at least for Kevin's parents. But that didn't explain why he kept forcing Kevin to kill. "Rainbow, I'm so sorry about what happened," Mac said, "but not _everyone_ is like that. There are a lot of good people out there too." 

Rainbow moved closer, and abruptly raised the knife he was carrying. Mac and Bloo both leaned away from it, but they couldn't get far. "Like you?" Rainbow asked. "You fight too. You argue, you yell... why should anyone be allowed to live like that? Bloo, you say nasty things all the time to all your friends, things that can even _hurt_—" On that word, he struck Mac in the arm with the knife, drawing blood and a loud yelp from him, and the tiny friend finished, "—your own creator."

Mac was starting to panic now, as the realization came to him that Rainbow could quite easily kill them both at a moment's notice. Coco had turned away, but her expression showed very little concern, mainly disgust. Bloo, in the meantime, was wide-eyed in horror and said, "B-but I never r-_really _want to hurt him! Leave him alone!"

Rainbow frowned and ignored him. He glared at Mac, whose teeth were gritted against the pain in his arm. The tiny friend said, "And Mac. Do you _really_ respect Bloo? Do you try and let him be his _own_ person, or do you keep him from enjoying himself? Is he a friend or a burden to you? You sometimes entertain thoughts of leaving him behind, _don't _you?"

Before Mac could answer, Rainbow stuck the knife tip into Bloo's side, and Mac protested, "No, don't...!" With a quick motion Rainbow sliced the knife sideways, leaving a cut along Bloo's side, and he howled in pain. "Stop it, _stop it!_" Mac pleaded with tears in his eyes; having to listen to Bloo's pain was almost greater than the pain he was already feeling.

Rainbow stepped back so that they could both see him clearly. "The bond between creator and imaginary friend should be _inseparable,_" he said, raising the knife blade up in the moonlight. The blood from both slices he had made ran along the flat of the blade until they mixed together near the handle, and he continued, "You should be as one, like a single person. Any family should stay together and help each other no matter what, and never, _ever_ turn against each other..."

Before he could complete his speech, however, he fell silent, listening to something. A distant sound grew louder; it quickly became apparent to everyone on the roof that the sound was a number of emergency sirens approaching the house. _Finally, _Mac thought, _the police are here! Please hurry, please hurry, I don't wanna die..._ Rainbow looked surprisingly calm, though, and Mac blinked in surprise, clearing some of his tears. The tiny friend glanced at Coco, who continued to watch with a bit of uneasiness, and he looked at the captives again, saying, "It's time to make my exit, after I finish the two of you."

Bloo looked at the edge of the roof, then back at Rainbow and said, "But how will you... I mean... you can't fly, right?"

"Maybe not," Rainbow admitted, "but now that I have a bird helping me out, that won't be a problem, will it?"

Mac narrowed one of his eyes, "Are you talking about Coco? She can't fly." Rainbow stared back at him blankly, looking surprised at the statement. Mac paused before asking, "You mean, you didn't know that?"

"I... but... but she's even part _airplane!_ How can she _not fly?!_" Rainbow protested. He stared at Coco expectantly, who shook her head to confirm what Mac was saying. Rainbow's color changed to a deeper red, but as the sirens grew louder, Mac noticed that his color flickered yellow for a brief moment. _He must not have a backup escape plan,_ Mac realized... _This could be their best chance to catch him! _

Waving Coco closer, Rainbow hopped onto her back and said, "Alright, girl; we don't have much time before they find us... let's go!"

Coco nodded and charged for the roof door. Just before they reached it, however, it flung open; a very upset-looking Wilt stepped out onto the rooftop, and Coco skidded to a halt to avoid running into him. Wilt noticed the injuries Mac and Bloo had taken and exclaimed, "Guys! S-sorry! Are you okay?" Mac nodded in reply, but Bloo shook his head.

With their escape route cut off, Rainbow was definitely turning more yellow, and Coco backed away from the door. Rainbow looked at her and said, "D-do something! Wilt's here to..."

"No!" Wilt interrupted. " Coco, he's controlling you! Think about it; there's no reason for _any_ of this! He's forcing you to feel what _he's_ feeling! If we don't stop him, he's going to keep doing this to more people, and this has to end _now!_"

Coco blinked a few times and looked conflicted as she considered what Wilt had just said. From her back, Rainbow turned red and sighed with exasperation, obviously giving up on trying to control Coco; before she could do anything, however, he quickly stuck his knife out and around her neck to the front, yanking hard and slashing it. Coco gasped and choked, "Ckckkkkhh!" as a curtain of blood poured out from the wound; she fell to a sitting position and grasped her neck with both of her feet. Wilt and the others were too horrified to act immediately, and Rainbow leapt from his position, running for Mac and Bloo with his knife still clutched in his hands.

"_Coco!!_" Wilt exclaimed, rushing to her aid even though he didn't know what to do. He decided to join her in applying pressure, pressing his hand against the area to try and stop the bleeding. Coco was panicked and trying to gasp for air; she suddenly laid a plastic egg, the orange eggshell splitting open to reveal large rolls of gauze and surgical tape. Without hesitating, Wilt picked these up and started wrapping the area. He hoped she was going to be all right; even in the few seconds the wound had been made, it looked like she had lost a lot of blood.

Rainbow had reached Mac in the commotion, and in a few quick moves, he not only severed the ropes that bound him to Bloo, but also landed on his shoulder and pressed the blade of the knife against his neck. Mac was startled at how fast the tiny friend was; all of this, from Coco's back to his shoulder, happened in mere seconds. Flaring red again, Rainbow ordered, "Get up! _Now!_"

Mac complied, though he was trembling in fear and biting his lip to keep from crying out. Bloo was free now as well, but a furious glance from Rainbow made him back up a safe distance. He gripped the wound Rainbow had made earlier on his side, and cringed, hoping that he and Mac would make it out of this alive.

Mac didn't dare move a voluntary muscle; he stammered, "J-just take it... t-take it easy, R-Rainb--..."

"_Quiet!_" Rainbow yelled back. His eyes darted about furiously as he tried to figure out a new escape route, but aside from jumping off the roof, there wasn't any other way. He grew more and more agitated, and that made Mac nervous, because he would probably be killed at the slightest provocation.

Whether he came up with a plan or not, it was interrupted by a commotion from the stairs leading to the roof. A number of police officers burst through the door onto the rooftop, weapons drawn. Officer Edwards was in the lead, and they all took aim at Rainbow, several flashlights illuminating the area. "_Freeze!_" Edwards shouted. "Let go of the boy and drop the weapon!" A pair of officers broke away from the main group, going over to provide assistance to Coco, who was still bleeding and struggling to breathe.

Rainbow tightened his grip on his knife and snarled, "Back off! Take one more step, and he _dies!_"

"We're not moving," Edwards promised, though his gun remained trained on the tiny friend. "Just tell us what you want, and we'll negotiate..."

"What I _want,_" Rainbow answered, "is _revenge!_ Revenge for my boy, Kevin! You... you cornered him... and he killed himself! You _made_ him kill himself!"

"Not them," Mac said, still not daring to move. "It was you... you forced him to do terrible things that you wanted him to do, and he hated you for it..."

"Liar!" Rainbow yelled. "The bond between us was inseparable! I did nothing but help him get over his inhibitions; a _little_ forcing to do what he _really_ desired to do!"

Mac said, "No, that was never how he felt, and I can prove it. Look in my backpack... I have Kevin's diary."

Rainbow glanced at the backpack with his eyes, and then at Mac, "This had better not be a trick..." He called out, "Bloo! Get the book from Mac."

"R-right," Bloo replied, moving up cautiously behind them. He unzipped Mac's backpack and pulled out the book they had found earlier. He moved around in front and held it up for Rainbow to see. The tiny friend's eyes widened slightly at the sight of it, surprised. He motioned for Bloo to open it, which he did, near the end of the book. The cops no longer had a very clear shot on their target anymore, but they waited to see what would happen; the boy seemed to know what he was doing.

Rainbow scanned the pages quickly, his gray eyes darting back and forth. He didn't budge the knife from Mac's throat, even as he read through the passages. Mac could see that the passage was one of the last ones Kevin had written, though he couldn't turn his head to see it clearly. Rainbow's expression softened and his color began slowly shifting from red to blue. His eyes were full of disbelief, and in a small voice, he said, "Kevin... y-... you..."

"What?" Bloo asked.

Rainbow re-read the passage to be certain, and then said, "He... he was confused... I-I _made_ him confused. He was trying to... to find out what his true feelings were, but... I kept interfering with it. The... the last section, after we... after we killed that family, he... sent me upstairs and... and once I was away, wrote this... h-he said he..." His eyes began to well up with tears as he continued, "...he was _free._ H-he couldn't take being a... a p-puppet anymore... he'd rather be dead... I... had no idea... and then b-before I got back..."

"You were the only one who felt the way you did, Rainbow," Mac told him. "There was no bond with Kevin; there was only your hatred, for what happened to you. You dragged Kevin into it, and much as you tried to make him feel like you did, he couldn't. But you forced it on him, and he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want anyone else to suffer... including himself."

Rainbow looked as if his entire world had crumbled. Tears ran from his eyes, and his color shifted again, changing from blue to a deep purple hue; he lost the grip on the knife, and it clattered to the rooftop. Before anyone could act on this, Rainbow cried out loudly, the tortured cry of a broken mind; he leapt from Mac's shoulder, the jump carrying him over the side of the roof. He disappeared from sight, but they could hear his cry getting more distant until it was cut off abruptly at the end.

Mac looked over the edge; Bloo and some of the police joined him. Way down on the ground, a few more officers had gathered in a circle around a spot that was undoubtedly where Rainbow had landed, even though they could not see it clearly from above. The officers on the ground confirmed what they had already guessed: Rainbow was dead. The tiny imaginary friend lay in a pool of blood on the sidewalk in front of the house, and his skin color had faded to a dull grey that matched his eyes. Mac barely heard the words of confirmation as they came over Edwards's radio, as he was dizzy with relief. _It's over, _he thought... _It's finally over..._

**_To be concluded… _**


	9. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE **

"What are their conditions?" Mr. Herriman inquired, speaking into the telephone on his desk. Wilt and Eduardo were next to the desk, waiting expectantly for him to finish the call. Mac and Bloo, already bandaged as Mr. Herriman was, were off to one side of the office, speaking with some of the police and giving their accounts of everything that had happened. The rabbit listened on the line for a few moments, and then said, "I see. Very well, thank you." He hung up the phone.

Eduardo asked anxiously, "Are they all right? How is _Senorita_ Frankie?"

"Ms. Francis' condition has finally stabilized," Mr. Herriman told them, to Eduardo's relief. "She will most likely make a full recovery, though she will need to remain hospitalized for a while."

Wilt nodded, "And Coco?"

Mr. Herriman frowned slightly, "She will be back to Foster's much quicker; however, the damage to her throat will prevent her from being able to speak. Depending on how well it heals, it may or may not be permanent."

Lowering his eyes, Wilt said, "If only I had acted a little sooner... maybe she wouldn't have gotten hurt at all."

"Do not blame yourself, Master Wilt; it was the late Master Rainbow's fault, not yours," Mr. Herriman replied.

"I guess not," Wilt agreed. "No, it wasn't my fault, but... something else is." He walked over to the officers who were speaking with Mac and Bloo. They paused what they were saying, looking up at Wilt, who looked away for a moment before saying, "Eurotrish. Her death was my fault, and I'm ready to face the consequences of it."

"But you were being forced..." Mac protested.

"Yeah, Rainbow made me feel hatred," Wilt replied, "but I've always had a _little_ resentment, and Rainbow wasn't even near me at the time. He didn't _tell_ me to kill; he just set up the circumstances so that I would decide it on my own. Besides, it's different for Herriman and Frankie: at least they can forgive us if they want. Trish doesn't _have_ that choice, and I'm sorry, but I think the fact that I was being controlled is little consolation to her now."

Mac and Bloo both hung their heads, as officer Edwards said to the tall friend, "Are you sure about this?"

Wilt nodded, "I have to take responsibility. I couldn't live with myself otherwise. Please, just take me in. If a court still finds me innocent, I'll... I'll accept that, but if they find me guilty... then I won't resist either."

Edwards sighed and said, "Very well. We're just about done here anyway." The other officers nodded, and they started for the door along with Wilt. Mac and Bloo watched them go, and Wilt gave them a small, unconfident smile before stepping out of the office. Looking down at Mac, Edwards said, "I'll take you home when you're ready. I'll be waiting outside."

"Thanks," Mac said, and Edwards left to join the others outside. Mac looked over at Bloo and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"It still hurts, but I think I'll be alright," Bloo answered. "You?"

Mac touched the bandage on his arm, "Same." He nodded briefly in Mr. Herriman and Eduardo's direction, and then walked out of the office into the foyer with Bloo close behind. "I wonder if Rainbow would've turned out nicer if his family had been nicer to him," Mac said. "He sounded so kind to begin with."

"I dunno," Bloo said, "but I do kinda feel sorry for him. The family, fighting like that... it just seems so wrong. I'm glad we're not like that."

"Yeah," Mac said thoughtfully. "Bloo... I've been thinking about some of what Rainbow said..."

"Not the murder stuff, I hope," Bloo remarked.

"No," Mac said, shaking his head. "What he said about the bond between us. Between imaginary friend and creator. He was right, you know; it should be inseparable. And, I think we kinda lose sight of that sometimes, you and me."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Bloo agreed.

Mac continued, "Tonight, though, I realized just how much like the same person we are, deep down. When our lives were in danger, I thought of what would happen if you were killed. It's really easy to forget sometimes that imaginary friends are real, live people, and how much a part of you they really are. If I lost you, it'd be like losing a piece of my own soul. I don't think I could handle that, and I'm glad I won't have to find out."

"Me too," Bloo said, as the two of them stopped in front of the main Foster's doorway. "You're my best friend, and I think it would be a sad, lonely world without you. I don't say this often enough, but... I'm really lucky to have a creator like you." As Mac smiled, Bloo smiled back, "Take care of yourself, all right?"

"You got it, pal," Mac replied, and they gave each other a hug before Mac opened the door and stepped outside. Bloo moved over to a window and watched him get into Edwards' police car. They waved at each other until the car pulled away and vanished into the night. Once they were out of sight, Bloo turned away from the window and climbed the steps upstairs, leaving the darkened foyer still and quiet once again, only the rhythmic ticking of the foyer's clock breaking the silence.

**_THE END _**


End file.
